Small Group Research

This meta-analysis examined how transactive memory systems (TMS) operationalization, task characteristics, and outcome measurements moderate TMS-team outcome relationships in laboratory studies. Based on 44 studies (103 effect sizes), TMS demonstrated a moderate positive relationship with team outcomes (r = .44, 95% CI [0.36, 0.50], p < .001). Team outcome measurement approach emerged as a significant moderator: self-report scales yielded larger effects (r = .77) than observer ratings (r = .38) or embedded metrics (r = .39). Findings highlight the importance of measurement decisions in TMS research.

Building on conflict expression theory, we develop and validate a measure of workgroup conflict expression tendencies (the “CET” measure). The CET is comprised of four dimensions—Argue, Debate, Subvert, and Disguise—defined by the directness and intensity of expressed opposition. Across six studies with diverse samples, the measure shows strong psychometric properties and convergent, discriminant, criterion, and incremental validity. Conflict expression tendencies relate appropriately to adjacent constructs, are distinct from conflict types (task, process, relationship) and management strategies, and explain incremental variance in trust, emotions, and information acquisition. We conclude with directions for future research on conflict expression in groups.

Drawing on the literature on multiple team memberships (MTM), boundary management, and team knowledge sharing, this study examines how individuals navigate knowledge sharing across teams through a phronetic iterative analysis of 18 interviews with knowledge workers. Findings reveal two tensional themes, Idealized Openness and Conditional Closedness, which manifest across individual, interpersonal, team, and organizational levels. Findings also reveal that workers actively employ various communicative strategies to manage the two tensions when sharing or withholding knowledge across team boundaries. Implications focus on the romanticized norm of openness, and on extending MTM and multi-team system (MTS) theories in teams and organizations.

Teams operating in high-risk environments, such emergency management, require constant coordination adaptations to manage dynamic task demands. However, training for such adaptations remains understudied. This study used sliding window entropy to analyse emergency medical teams’ coordination before and after training, distinguishing two restructuring phases: equilibrium (ordered coordination) and ataxia (disordered coordination). High-performing teams transitioned between phases more frequently and spent more time in equilibrium. During ataxia, they combined standardised behaviours with proactive speaking-up and monitoring. Low-performing teams showed less initiative. These findings underscore the need for both restructuring and orderly coordination, offering valuable insights for improving adaptive training approaches.

Intergroup dialogue (IGD) is an empirically supported small group pedagogy for strengthening relationships and communication across social identities, increasing awareness of inequities, and promoting social action. Although research has examined IGD processes and outcomes from participants’ perspectives, far less is known about facilitators’ experiences, limiting guidance for facilitator training. This exploratory study investigated how peer- and self-nominated expert IGD facilitators conceptualize expertise, develop facilitation competencies, and advise on training. A critical-constructivist grounded theory analysis of seventeen interviews showed that IGD expertise centers on a dialogic orientation built through didactic and experiential learning, informing recommendations for training future facilitators.

Pit stops represent technical choreography that is highly complex and susceptible to error. An inductive examination of talk in pit crews’ post-competition debriefs revealed expectations in tension: should pit crew members adapt their choreography to ensure their and others’ safety, or should they push their boundaries to realize their competitive potential? In keeping with grounded practical theory methodology, analysis suggests several discursive techniques that pit crews employ in response to this tension and supports an emerging model of dilemmatic talk of debriefs.

Teamwork research has proposed that a safe interpersonal environment is an essential influence on innovation. However, the relationship between this environment and innovation is not clear-cut, as studies suggest that such an effect is neither strong nor generalizable across teams. Thus, this study argues that the positive relationship between psychological safety and innovation depends on team positive affective tone (TPAT). Accordingly, results showed that this relationship occurs only when TPAT is high. Therefore, we contribute to the teamwork and innovation literature by supporting the idea that the positive effects of psychological safety on innovation depend on the enhancing influence of positive affect.

In high-risk industries such as coal mining, ensuring safety behaviour among workers is critical. Growing workforce diversity in mining enterprises has led to the emergence of team faultlines—hypothetical dividing lines that split teams into internally homogeneous subgroups—which may impact team functioning and individual safety behaviours. Drawing on faultlines theory, social identity theory, and conservation of resources theory, this study investigates how workgroup faultlines influence miners’ safety behaviour through the mediating roles of emotional exhaustion and safety self-efficacy. A multilevel, time-lagged survey design was employed, with data collected from 1,202 coal miners nested within 65 teams. Results from multilevel structural equation modelling indicated that stronger team faultlines were associated with higher emotional exhaustion and lower safety self-efficacy, both of which predicted lower safety behaviour. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion and safety self-efficacy sequentially mediated the relationship between faultlines and safety behaviour. These findings extend faultline research into blue-collar settings and highlight the importance of addressing subgroup dynamics to promote worker safety.

Evaluating interdisciplinary research (IDR) teams is essential for improving productivity and outcomes. To contribute to the growing toolkit for evaluating IDR teamwork, we created three scales: IDR Gains, Principal Investigator (PI) Perceptions of Challenges, and Non-PI Perceptions of PIs—designed for use in academic settings. The scales were psychometrically tested with university faculty from various disciplines (n = 345) who were invited to apply for interdisciplinary seed-grants. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed good model fit, and all scales demonstrated high reliability (α ≥ .9) and convergent validity. These instruments offer valuable tools for assessing and enhancing researchers’ experiences with IDR, particularly in colleges/universities.

We conducted two experiments (166 triads) to examine when positive and negative moods shared among members help or hinder group creativity. We show that the effects of shared affect depend on whether groups adopt a global or local attentional focus immediately before the induction of mood. When groups initially adopted a global focus, subsequently inducing a positive mood increased group creativity relative to inducing a negative mood. In contrast, when groups initially adopted a local focus, subsequently inducing a positive mood decreased group creativity relative to inducing a negative mood. These effects were mediated by reductions in idea fixation during collaborative idea generation.

We report on the first experimental tests of the integration of status characteristics theory and self-categorization theory. Using 3-person and 6-person group interaction studies, we find mixed support. While members who have higher status in the group, or who have traits prototypical of the group, do impart greater influence over group decision-making, for members who have both high status and prototypical characteristics, the benefits are not additive. Group members are also no more likely to direct behaviors to a fellow group member who displays prototypical traits, than either non-prothotypical fellow group members or individuals in an outgroup.

Medical teams operating under stressful conditions are prone to experiencing disconnects, which are instances of task-specific incompatibility (i.e., ineffective coordination) between team members. In simulation-based medical team training, we examined (1) whether we can identify disconnects, by locating transitions in low-level team coordination based on data collected with wearable devices, and (2) how medical teams address disconnects based on video-based annotations of different types of high-level team coordination behavior. We find that with our exploratory approach we can identify disconnects with low-level transitions. Moreover, teams resolve disconnects with explicit action and information coordination, but lose valuable time in doing so.

Although team performance is crucial to organizational success, the role of social processes on the baseline and trajectory of team performance in newly formed teams remains largely unknown. Applying stress-as-offense-to-self theory, this study investigates how perceived team performance evolves over time and how individual- and team-level offenses or boosts to the self via appreciation, distributive justice, illegitimate tasks, and team meeting attitudes affect its initial level and subsequent development. Using longitudinal data from 49 student project teams, our findings support a positive performance trajectory and emphasize the importance of early perceived social dynamics on team performance throughout the collaboration process.

Sound decision making is critical for crews in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments, yet influencing factors are not well understood. Existing studies face challenges in generalizing due to variability in missions and crews, making data difficult to synthesize. Addressing this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with practitioners (N = 8) from diverse ICE teams. Using directed content analysis guided by models of naturalistic decision making, teaming, and literature-identified ICE stressors, we propose an integrative framework that maps elements of ICE team decision making and their interrelationships, including mission objectives, risks, team characteristics, and communication. Accordingly, we identify high-priority factors for empirical investigation.

Drawing on team-level cognitive appraisal theory, we develop and test a theoretical model that explicates whether, when, and how team reflexivity translates into team boundary-spanning behavior (TBSB). We argue that team reflexivity is a team-level stressor that shapes TBSB through distinct appraisal processes. Specifically, we examine the mediating roles of challenge and hindrance appraisals, as well as the moderating role of empowering leadership. Using multi-source, multi-wave data from 591 members nested in 140 teams, our results show that team reflexivity promotes TBSB via challenge appraisal while undermining it via hindrance appraisal. Moreover, empowering leadership conditions these relationships.

This study examines how teams handle uneven contribution and identifies conditions that support constructive engagement. While broaden-and-build theory links positive emotions to expanded behaviors, its application to negative settings is less explored. In a lab experiment, participants worked with a low-contributing confederate while anticipation of future interaction and team reflexivity were manipulated. Anticipated collaboration increased sympathy and willingness to interact. Moreover, teams that engaged in reflexivity and information integration produced higher-quality decisions. These findings demonstrate that positive emotions can broaden interpersonal openness and help build the collective resources needed to sustain collaboration under free-rider conditions.

As virtual teams become increasingly prevalent in today’s globalized and technology-driven environments, shared mental models (SMMs) are crucial for enhancing collaboration and performance. We conducted a systematic review of existing literature (2004–2023) to understand how SMMs have been investigated in virtual settings and methods for measuring them. Studies were coded based on information and communication technology (ICT) tools, team characteristics, types of SMMs, and the Input-Process-Output (I-P-O) framework. Findings show diverse SMMs impact team functioning, but measurement methods lack standardization, highlighting the need for innovative approaches. This study underscores gaps in the literature and suggests avenues for future exploration.

This study examines the relationship between participation and perceived influence across three meetings. Groups were asked to take on the role of an advisory committee to a local court charged with making recommendations for capital cases in which the defendant claimed diminished mental capacity. After discussing each case, participants were asked to provide round-robin ratings for perceived influence. Speaking turn was used to measure participation. Results indicate the relationship between participation and perceived influence was stable across meetings but that it varied across groups. Discussion addresses the theoretical and practical implications of shared influence perceptions over time.

This qualitative study examines the challenges faced by group leaders during mass trauma following the October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel. Twenty-five seasoned leaders who led 43 groups participated in semi-structured interviews. Employing an interpretative phenomenological approach, the analysis revealed four principal dilemmas emerging from participants’ accounts: setting boundaries versus flexibility; adhering to structure versus focusing on the “here and now”; maintaining harmony versus allowing conflict; and discussing the war versus everyday concerns. The findings highlight the significant impact of mass trauma on group dynamics and emphasize the need for flexible and sensitive leadership strategies.