Analysing teamwork in higher education: an empirical study on the antecedents and consequences of team cohesiveness. Issue 7 (3rd July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bravo, Rafael; Catalán, Sara; Pina, José M.
• Is Part Of: Studies in higher education. Volume 44:Issue 7(2019)
• Page Start: 1153
• Page End: 1165
• Publication Date: 2019-07-03
• Subjects: Teamwork -- collaborative behaviour -- workload -- task complexity -- team cohesiveness -- team effectiveness; Education, Higher -- Periodicals; 378.005
• DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2017.1420049
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0307-5079

Abstract

ABSTRACT: One of the most important components of effective teamwork is cohesiveness. However, few empirical studies on the antecedents and consequences of group cohesiveness exist. In response to this gap, the current study draws on the Input-Process-Output model of team effectiveness to investigate the impact of individual and task factors on team cohesiveness, as well as the influence of team cohesiveness on students' perceived learning, satisfaction with teamwork, and expected quality of the outcome. Based on a survey of 160 undergraduate students who worked in groups, the findings show that individual factors (cooperativeness and collaborative behaviour) have a positive influence on team cohesiveness, while task factors (workload and task complexity) have a negative influence on it. According to the results obtained, the highest effect of cohesiveness is on satisfaction with teamwork. Finally, both perceived learning and expected quality predict satisfaction with teamwork.