Effects of team member psychological proximity on teamwork performance

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to examine whether team-members' psychological proximity affects the degree of teamwork quality and therefore affecting the team performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey instrument was developed based on extant literature reviews, and administered among information technology professionals. Collected data were analysed using partial least square (PLS) method.

Findings

Team-members' psychological proximity is found to be significantly related to teamwork quality. The magnitude of relational coefficients between sub-dimensions of psychological proximity and those of teamwork quality turned out to be different from each other.

Research limitations/implications

Psychological proximity is found to critically influence teamwork and performance in IT teams. Also, the four-factor model developed from previous literature is validated for further use. Snowball sampling using IT professionals is the major limitation of this study.

Originality/value

Studies on teamwork quality that employs psychological proximity are scarce. Socialising in workplaces is sometimes viewed as an unproductive activity, however, socialising decreases psychological proximity among team-members, increasing teamwork quality. In addition, examining the psychological proximity in team-members adds to the growing literature on teamwork quality.

Citation

Cha, M., Park, J.-G. and Lee, J. (2014), "Effects of team member psychological proximity on teamwork performance", Team Performance Management, Vol. 20 No. 1/2, pp. 81-96. https://doi.org/10.1108/TPM-03-2013-0007