How is the Impact of Buffering Team Boundaries on Innovative Performance Best Explained? : A Test of an Instrumental versus an Expressive Mechansim

Prior team research has almost exclusively conceptualized team boundary management from a perspective of information processing. This paper approaches the issue of team boundary buffering, an external process by
which teams protect themselves against uncertainty and disturbances from the outside, from a conservation of resources perspective. We test whether the effect of team boundary buffering on innovative team performance is
better explained by an instrumental path of gained team information processing or by an expressive path of gained team energy, that we define as the extent to which a team mobilizes the collective resources of its members.

Design/Methodology
In a field setting in a cross?sectional sample of 89 functional RD?teams from the automotive industry, comprising 724 employees and 89 team leaders, we tested a dual mediator model with OLS regression.

Results
Our dual mediator analysis supported the occurrence of an expressive path via team energy and only partly confirmed the existence of an instrumental path via team information processing.

Limitations
The cross?sectional data does not allow to draw any causal inferences. The generalizability of our conclusions is limited by the specific type of teams (R&D).

Research/Practical Implications
Our results suggest that the impact of team boundary buffering on the innovative performance is better explained by the expressive motivational state of team energy than the instrumental team process of information elaboration. Besides the instrumental reach for their goals, R&D teams should thrive for an
expressive, energetic team environment to gain innovative performance.

Originality/Value
This study challenges the assumption that team boundary management is primarily an instrumental issue of information processing.