Feeling good about teamwork: the roles of personality and manifest needs

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine the link between the Big Five personality traits and self-efficacy for teamwork, positioning manifest needs as intervening variables. The primary purpose of the analyses is to further develop some of the key variables contributing to team performance. Design/methodology/approach Relationships were tested with conditional process analysis. The sample includes 315 students from a large university. Likert measures were used to operationalize survey items, which are based on existing scales in the literature. Findings Each of the Big Five dimensions are related to teamwork self-efficacy (TSE), with manifest needs having significant mediating effects. For example, conscientiousness displayed a positive relationship to TSE, with both the need for affiliation and the need for power acting as significant intervening variables. Such relationships for each personality dimension are discussed fully in the paper. Practical implications High functioning teams need members who share a level of self-efficacy for engaging in teamwork. Leaders who must form their teams may find it useful to consider TSE, and the individual attributes that contribute to this important construct. The authors’ examination of the roles of both personality and manifest needs should offer some essential tools for this objective. Originality/value This paper contributes to our understanding of the relationship between personality and TSE by investigating manifest needs as process variables.