A PLEA FOR TEAM REFLEXIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS A three-way interaction model with Team Reflexivity, Goal Clarity and Participative Leadership on Team Performance

Abstract

This research contributes to the small but growing body of literature on understanding in what circumstances team reflexivity, the extent to which teams reflect upon and modify their functioning, leads to better team performance. This study answers the call to study the role of leadership and goal setting in the reflexivity process. This has been conducted by the use of survey data from 40 teams from different sectors in the Netherlands. Team members rated reflexivity, participative leadership and goal clarity on team-level, while the team leaders rated team performance. With controlling for team size and team tenure, support is found for the prediction of team reflexivity leading to increased team performance. Non-significant results are found for the individual moderators: goal clarity and participative leadership. Yet, a significant three-way interaction is demonstrated, showing that for high (low) levels of participative leadership and low (high) levels of goal clarity in the reflexivity process will lead to better team performance. Finally, theoretical contributions and practical implications for leaders and organizations are discussed. This study’s aspiration is to provide a stimulus for future studies to dive into the complexity of the different conditions of when team reflexivity leads to increased performance.