Job-related antecedents of team resilience and improved team performance

Abstract

Purpose – It is increasingly important for organizations to respond effectively and promote positive outcomes under adverse and unstable conditions. Resilience is salient because reflects the dynamic process that enables successful results under stressful conditions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential role of team resilience as the psychological mechanism that explains how job demands and job social resources are related to and enhance team performance. Design/methodology/approach – Self-reported questionnaires were distributed to 1,633 employees, nested in 275 teams from 52 Spanish small and medium enterprises. Aggregated scores were employed for a team-level structural equation modeling analysis. Findings – Results support a partial mediation model in which job social resources affect team resilience, and in turn impact team performance. No significant effects were found for job demands affecting team resilience. However, the demands×resources interaction influences team resilience, and thus the impact of resources on team resilience was attenuated by demands. In the same way, the demands×resources interaction influences team performance. Research limitations/implications – Job social resources are related to team performance, but team resilience is a significant mediator. Further research should investigate the effects of different job demands on team resilience. Practical implications – The results suggest that managers should focus on developing job social resources to augment team resilience and team performance. Originality/value – Managers could benefit from understanding how team resilience could be developed, given that team resilience aids to achieve positive team outcomes.