A Study on the Relationship between Intra-team Conflict and Team Innovative Performance and the Mediating Role of Team Learning Behaviors in R&D Teams

연구개발팀에서 팀내 갈등과 팀 혁신성과간의 관계에서 팀 학습행동의 매개역할

In this era of cut-throat competition, innovation is a source of competitive advantage, and securing core competency through innovation plays a pivotal role in ensuring the survival and growth of an organization. In an organization, R&D team is a core division driving innovation, and creative tension and conflict among researchers fuels innovative performance. Despite heated debate over the positive and negative effects of conflict, insufficiently-identified process factors have left sophisticated mechanisms between conflicts and effects unaddressed. This study assumes that team learning behaviors can bean important process factor given that conflict propels learning, and that learning is a decisive factor in creating competitive advantage. This study conducted an empirical analysis of the relationship between relationship/task conflict and team innovative performance, and the mediating role of team learning behaviors using data collected from a questionnaire sent out to the heads of 262 R&D teams and second highest-ranking officials thereof. The analysis conducted based on structural equation model indicates that relationship conflict has negatively affected team learning behaviors, whereas task conflict has positively influenced team learning behaviors(full mediation effect), team learning behaviors has positively influenced team innovative performance. Based on these results, the study has suggested implications of intra-team conflict and team learning behaviors for team innovative performance.