What drives team learning: core conditions and paths

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze the configurational effect of transformational leadership, team conflict, team cohesion and psychological safety on team learning. Design/methodology/approach The questionnaire and two different data sources (team members and team leaders) were used as data collection strategy. Based on a sample of 82 teams, qualitative comparative analysis in its fuzzy set variant was used to test the model. Findings The findings of this study reveal that three important paths explain team learning: the presence of transformational leadership, task cohesion and psychological safety with the absence of relationship conflict; the presence of transformational leadership, social and task cohesion and psychological safety; and the presence of transformational leadership, social and task cohesion with the absence of relationship and task conflict. Originality/value Overall, the findings suggest that the presence of transformational leadership, team cohesion and psychological safety and the absence of conflict are important conditions for team learning to occur, as well as that more than one configurations of antecedent factors drive team learning.