Antecedents of team alignment for team performance: length of relationship as a moderator

Abstract

Purpose While scholarly attention has mainly focused on team-level or relational constructs for the success of team performance, understanding the inter-play between these two streams of research remains limited in digital transformation projects. Borrowing from social exchange theory, this study aims to explore the antecedents of team alignment leading to team performance with mediation effects of trust, commitment and customer–service provider relationship. The moderating role of relationship length was also examined. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected using a survey of 180 employees working on digital projects in B2B context, mostly in the Indo-Pacific region, specifically Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and India. Partial least squares method with multi-group analyses and bootstrapping method were used to analyze the data. Findings Findings show that customer control and team capability are the strongest antecedents of team alignment, and inter-play between the customer–provider relationship with team-level constructs is also significant. Relationship length has higher level of moderation impact on trust–team performance link compared to commitment–team performance relationship. Research limitations/implications The study considers moderation impact of relationship length on trust, commitment and team performance but not other constructs. Also, gender ratio is skewed in the data set. Practical implications Digital transformation practitioners need to be aware of relational constructs (not only team-level constructs) when designing successful long-term digitalization strategies for organizations. Originality/value This study is one of the first to document the inter-play between team alignment and relational constructs (such as trust, commitment, and customer–service provider relationship), with moderation impact of relationship length leading to team performance in digital transformation projects.