A Resource Model of Team Resilience Capacity and Learning

Abstract

A team’s capacity to bounce back from adversities or setbacks (i.e., team resilience capacity) is increasingly valuable in today’s complex business environment. To enhance our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of team resilience capacity, we develop and empirically test a resource-based model that delineates critical team inputs and outputs of resilience capacity. Drawing from conservation of resources theory, we propose that voice climate is a critical resource that builds team resilience capacity by encouraging intrateam communication and that leader learning goal orientation (LGO) amplifies this relationship by orienting team discourse toward understanding and growing from challenges. In turn, we propose that team resilience capacity is positively related to team learning behaviors, as teams with a higher resilience capacity are well-positioned to invest their resources into learning activities, and that team information elaboration amplifies this relationship by facilitating resource exchange. Results of a time-lagged, multisource field study involving 48 teams from five Canadian technology start-ups supported this moderated-mediated model. Specifically, voice climate was positively related to team resilience capacity, with leader LGO amplifying this effect. Further, team resilience capacity was positively related to team learning behaviors, with information elaboration amplifying this effect. Altogether, we advance theory and practice on team resilience by offering empirical support on what builds team resilience capacity (voice climate) and what teams with a high resilience capacity do (learning), along with the conditions under which these relationships are enhanced (higher leader LGO and team information elaboration).