Backing Up Behaviors in Teams: The Role of Personality and Legitimacy of Need
Abstract
Backing up behavior has generally been defined as helping other team members perform their roles and is thought to be critical for effective performance in teams. To date, there has been no empirical investigation of backing up in teams, despite its importance. We develop and test an input process output model of backing up behavior in teams, proposing that backing up behavior in teams can be predicted at the team level by two types of team inputs: (1) team composition characteristics in terms of the personality of the members of the team and (2) team task characteristics in terms of the extent to which the nature of the task is one that legitimately calls for backing up behavior by members of the team. Results from a study of 71 teams performing a computerized tactical decision-making task suggest that the legitimacy of the need for back up has an important main effect on the extent to which team members provide assistance to and receive assistance from each other. In addition, legitimacy also has important interactive effects with both the personality of the back up recipient and the personality of the back up providers on backing up behaviors in teams.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA457974
Entities
People
- Aleksander P. Ellis
- Bradley J. West
- Christopher O. Porter
- Danie R. Ilgen
- Henry K. Moon
- John R. Hollenbeck
Organizations
- Texas A&M University