IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2022i1p406-d1016114.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relationship between Psychological Safety and Management Team Effectiveness: The Mediating Role of Behavioral Integration

Author

Listed:
  • Emil Viduranga Mogård

    (Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0317 Oslo, Norway)

  • Ole Bendik Rørstad

    (Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0317 Oslo, Norway)

  • Henning Bang

    (Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0317 Oslo, Norway)

Abstract

This study explores whether there is an indirect effect of psychological safety on team effectiveness in management teams, operating through the mediating variable of behavioral integration. Whilst there exists a fair amount of research on the relationship between psychological safety and team effectiveness, few have looked at potential mechanisms that can explain this association in management teams. We propose behavioral integration to be a potential mediator. Data are collected from 1150 leaders in 160 Norwegian management teams, answering a questionnaire measuring team functioning and effectiveness. Team size ranged from 3 to 19 members. Our results show a significant indirect effect of psychological safety on management team effectiveness, mediated by behavioral integration. Thus, the more team members perceive the climate as safe in terms of speaking their mind without the fear of repercussions, the more they partake in mutual collaboration, information sharing and experience ownership in the decisions being made. This is associated with management teams performing better. We also found a positive relationship between psychological safety and behavioral integration, and—in line with previous studies—that psychological safety and behavioral integration both were positively related to team effectiveness. This study adds to the existing team research literature by expanding our knowledge about the importance of psychological safety and the way it influences management team performance at all levels throughout the organizational hierarchy.

Suggested Citation

  • Emil Viduranga Mogård & Ole Bendik Rørstad & Henning Bang, 2022. "The Relationship between Psychological Safety and Management Team Effectiveness: The Mediating Role of Behavioral Integration," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:406-:d:1016114
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/406/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/406/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christophe Boone & Walter Hendriks, 2009. "Top Management Team Diversity and Firm Performance: Moderators of Functional-Background and Locus-of-Control Diversity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 165-180, February.
    2. Yan Ling & Zeki Simsek & Michael Lubatkin & John F. Velga, 2008. "Transformational Leadership's Role in Promoting Corporate Entrepreneurship : Examining the CEO - TMT Interface," Post-Print hal-02276697, HAL.
    3. Enno Siemsen & Aleda V. Roth & Sridhar Balasubramanian & Gopesh Anand, 2009. "The Influence of Psychological Safety and Confidence in Knowledge on Employee Knowledge Sharing," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 11(3), pages 429-447, April.
    4. J. Stuart Bunderson & Peter Boumgarden, 2010. "Structure and Learning in Self-Managed Teams: Why “Bureaucratic” Teams Can Be Better Learners," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 609-624, June.
    5. Abraham Carmeli & David Waldman, 2010. "Leadership, behavioral context, and the performance of work groups in a knowledge-intensive setting," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 384-400, August.
    6. Barbara S. Lawrence, 1997. "Perspective---The Black Box of Organizational Demography," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(1), pages 1-22, February.
    7. Zeki Simsek & John F. Veiga & Michael Lubatkin & Richard N. Dino, 2005. "Modeling the Multilevel Determinants of Top management Team Behavorial Integration," Post-Print hal-02311805, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniel Leunbach & Truls Erikson & Max Rapp-Ricciardi, 2020. "Muddling through Akerlofian and Knightian uncertainty: The role of sociobehavioral integration, positive affective tone, and polychronicity," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 145-164, June.
    2. Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi & Alexander Brem, 2017. "Sustainability in SMEs: Top Management Teams Behavioral Integration as Source of Innovativeness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, October.
    3. Xue Wan & Stephen X. Zhang & Feng Wei, 2023. "CEO–TMT Congruence in Growth‐Need Strength and Firm Growth," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 722-751, May.
    4. Mammassis, Constantinos S. & Kostopoulos, Konstantinos C., 2019. "CEO goal orientations, environmental dynamism and organizational ambidexterity: An investigation in SMEs," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 577-588.
    5. Valentina Marano & Steve Sauerwald & Marc Essen, 2022. "The influence of culture on the relationship between women directors and corporate social performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(7), pages 1315-1342, September.
    6. Tekleab, Amanuel G. & Karaca, Ayse & Quigley, Narda R. & Tsang, Eric W.K., 2016. "Re-examining the functional diversity–performance relationship: The roles of behavioral integration, team cohesion, and team learning," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3500-3507.
    7. Tine Buyl & Christophe Boone & Walter Hendriks & Paul Matthyssens, 2011. "Top Management Team Functional Diversity and Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of CEO Characteristics," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 151-177, January.
    8. Xiaomeng Zhang & Ho Kwong Kwan, 2019. "Team behavioral integration links team interdependence with team performance: an empirical investigation in R&D teams," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, December.
    9. D’Allura, Giorgia Maria, 2019. "The leading role of the top management team in understanding family firms: Past research and future directions," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 87-104.
    10. Secil Bulbul & Serin Isiacik & Serpil Aytac, 2022. "Measurement of Perceived Psychological Safety: Integration, Review and Evidences for the Scale in the Context of Turkey," Journal of Economy Culture and Society, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 65(65), pages 15-28, June.
    11. Lu Wang & Lorna Doucet & Mary Waller & Karin Sanders & Sybil Phillips, 2016. "A Laughing Matter: Patterns of Laughter and the Effectiveness of Working Dyads," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(5), pages 1142-1160, October.
    12. Lu, Li & Norder, Kurt A. & Sawhney, Aman & Emich, Kyle J., 2023. "Setting the programmatic agenda: A comprehensive bibliometric overview of team mechanism research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    13. Vandekerkhof, Pieter & Steijvers, Tensie & Hendriks, Walter & Voordeckers, Wim, 2019. "The effect of nonfamily managers on decision-making quality in family firm TMTs: The role of intra-TMT power asymmetries," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 1-1.
    14. Alfredo De Massis & Kimberly A. Eddleston & Paola Rovelli, 2021. "Entrepreneurial by Design: How Organizational Design Affects Family and Non‐family Firms’ Opportunity Exploitation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 27-62, January.
    15. Kwon, Shin Hyoung & Kim, Joongseo & Yim, Hyunsoon (Sean), 2023. "Looking far or close: The explanatory role of myopic management in the relationship between CEO-TMT power disparity and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    16. Triana, María del Carmen & Richard, Orlando C. & Su, Weichieh, 2019. "Gender diversity in senior management, strategic change, and firm performance: Examining the mediating nature of strategic change in high tech firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(7), pages 1681-1693.
    17. Ekaterina Bjørnåli & Sarosh Asad & Siri Terjesen, 2024. "Determinants of intra-board behavioral integration in high-tech start-ups," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 28(1), pages 215-236, March.
    18. Zhi Yang & Xuemin Zhou & Pengcheng Zhang, 2015. "Centralization and innovation performance in an emerging economy: testing the moderating effects," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 415-442, June.
    19. White, Joshua V. & Borgholthaus, Cameron J., 2022. "Who’s in charge here? A bibliometric analysis of upper echelons research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1012-1025.
    20. Swen Nadkarni & Reinhard Prügl, 2021. "Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities for future research," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 71(2), pages 233-341, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:406-:d:1016114. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.