Teamwork and associated psychological factors: A review

Research results that have been reported indicate that the specific outcomes of teamwork vary and are in part context-dependant, while less is known about the interaction between teamwork and psychological factors. This paper reviews research results published in scientific journals in the period 2000-2005, and assesses current knowledge of teams and associated psychological factors. Furthermore, the review process identified the importance of team constituent factors (interdependence and team autonomy), team type and team size, and contextual factors for the results that were reported, and assessed the design and research-methodological foundations of those results. The main inclusion criteria for papers were that they had been based on field studies of formally established teams and were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Furthermore they must have been based on the use of questionnaires, and the occupational sector must have been identified. Fifty-five papers were identified for inclusion in the review. An almost consistent pattern of positive associations between psychological variables and teamwork was found to be reported across team types, team sizes, and contextual factors. Furthermore, the reported psychological factors appear to be positively linked to team autonomy and team interdependence. This paper discusses the strength of the interactions between teamwork and various psychological variables, and suggests directions for future research.