Understanding the Role of Team Member Personal Style in Project Performance: Does the Type of Innovation Matter?

Abstract

Teams are progressively becoming primary in the way employees in organizations conduct work. We investigated the role of staff personal style in project performance for teams working on incremental and radical innovations. Regression results based on 149 teams suggest that, for employees, conscientiousness and agreeableness, predominantly, seem to be beneficial for new product development (NPD) performance. Slope tests promote our proposition that for speed, radical NPD might gain from extra open and stable staff. Further, exceedingly agreeable employees do not seem to provide support when new ideas are fostered, since it could be a precursor to group think and less successful innovation. We provide implications for selection and training of employees assigned to work in innovation teams.