The Impact of Team Learning Behaviors on Team Innovative Work Behavior

Abstract

The aim of this review was to get insight into the impact of learning behaviors on innovative behavior in work teams. We addressed this issue by carrying out a systematic literature review. Thirty-one articles that reported studies on learning and innovation development in work teams were included in the review. By integrating the correlational findings of the original studies, we found that, at large, all investigated team learning behaviors had an effect on aspects of team innovative work behavior. Concerning specific team learning behaviors, sharing, team reflection, and team activity had the strongest impact on teams' engagement in innovation development. A central conclusion is that learning and innovation development are mutually dependent aspects of teamwork and that fostering one aspect will also be beneficial for the other. Based on our findings, we draw practical implications for fostering team development through enhancing learning behaviors and innovative work behavior in teams. Keywords team development, innovative work behavior, innovation, creativity, team learningInnovations at work are a crucial means for organizations to cope with increasing customer expectations, competition, and market dynamics (Anderson, Potočnik, & Zhou, 2014;Fay, Shippton, West, & Patterson, 2015;Subramaniam & Youndt, 2005). research-article2016 430 Human Resource Development Review 15(4)Innovations encompass all products and processes that are new and beneficial for an organization or a particular (group of) employees by providing an adequate solution for challenging tasks or situations (Messmann & Mulder, 2012). Innovations not only enable organizations to attain external benefits but are also a means to secure efficient internal processes that are the basis for organizational production processes or the provision of services. For employees, who are a key element of an organization's internal functioning, innovations are beneficial because they allow more effective work processes (e.g., improved communication processes at work), improved work conditions, and increased job satisfaction and other aspects of well-being (Anderson, De Dreu, & Nijstad, 2004;Janssen, 2000;Kanter, 1988). Moreover, innovations are not only a crucial outcome but, more importantly, include a dynamic, developmental process that has major implications for the professional development of employees (Evers, Kreijns, Van der Heijden, & Gerrichhauzen, 2011;Messmann & Mulder, 2012).Although innovations provide advantages for organizations and for their employees, the focus of practitioners and researchers was mainly on the return on investment of innovations. By contrast, the process of the development of innovations and, more importantly, the role of employees' contributions in this process has been largely neglected (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010). Only in recent years, there was a substantial increase in studies that were devoted to processes of "individual innovation" and thus highlight that organizations increasingly need their employees to activel...

Engaging Leadership and Its Implication for Work Engagement and Job Outcomes at the Individual and Team Level: A Multi-Level Longitudinal Study

“…Third, we focused on (team) work engagement as a main mediator to clarify the relation of engaging leadership at the team level on job outcomes at the team and individual level. Research on teams about team learning and innovation mostly used self-directed (self-managed) teams with non-routine types of task, such as IT teams or high-tech and health care teams [2,90]. In the present research, we did not control for the team interdependency and the type of task.…”

Stimulating teachers’ team performance through team-oriented HR practices: the roles of affective team commitment and information processing

“…Moreover, research outside the educational context shows that information processing contributes to team innovation and efficiency (Van Woerkom & Croon, 2009;Widmann, Messmann, & Mulder, 2016). These findings indicate that information processing facilitates the sharing of team members' ideas, experimentation and alternative ways of doing things, and, as such, contributes to team innovation (Van Woerkom & Croon, 2009).…”

The role of VET Colleges in stimulating teachers’ engagement in team learning

“…Although positive relationships between team learning and team performance have been shown in other work contexts (e.g. Leicher & Mulder, 2016;Van Woerkom & Croon, 2009;Widmann et al, 2016), the contribution of this dissertation lies in showing that this positive association also applies to the VET context.…”

“…Moreover, research outside the educational context shows that information processing contributes to team innovation and efficiency (Van Woerkom & Croon, 2009;Widmann et al, 2016). These findings indicate that information processing facilitates the sharing of team members' ideas, experimentation and alternative ways of doing things, and, as such, contributes to team innovation (Van Woerkom & Croon, 2009).…”

“…Research outside the VET context has shown that team learning is directly related to indicators of team performance, such as team effectiveness, efficiency and innovativeness (e.g. Edmondson, 1999;Leicher & Mulder, 2016;Van der Vegt & Bunderson, 2005;Van Woerkom & Croon, 2009;Widmann, Messmann, & Mulder, 2016). However, research on the relationship between VET teachers' team learning and their team performance seems to be largely missing.…”