Empirical Examination of the Relationships Between General Process Management Competency, Self-Efficacy for Project Teamwork and Team Member Performance in Short-Term Project Teams

Abstract: This research study examines the mediating influence of self-efficacy for project teamwork (SEPTW) on the relationship between general process management competency (GPMC) and team member effectiveness in short-term project teams (TME). Ninety-two professionally employed business graduate students participated in a 14-week project team. Each subject completed a self-assessment measure of SEPTW, and a close associate completed an observer version of a GPMC scale. At the end of the project, each team member rated the effectiveness of the other team members. Product moment correlations were used to examine the hypothesized relationships between TME and both GPMC and SEPTW, and between SEPTW and GPMC. The Hayes process and the Sobel test was used to test the hypothesis that SEPTW mediates the relationship between GPMC and TME. TME was significantly correlated with both SEPTW (r = 0.49, p < 0.01) and GPMC (r = 0.41, p < 0.01) and SEPTW was significantly correlated with GPMC (r = 0.52, p < 0.01). Both the Hayes process and Sobel test (Z = 2.978, p = 0.003) confirm that SEPTW partially mediates the relationship between GPMC and TME. Business educators and practitioners need to be aware of the influence of GPMC and SEPTW on TME in project teams. Education, training, and organizational development interventions that promote general process management competency and self-efficacy for project teamwork in an integrated manner should improve team member performance in project teams. This is the first study to examine the relationships between GPMC, SEPTW and TME.  The results of this study highlight the importance of enhancing both general process management competency and self-efficacy for project teamwork to help improve team member performance in project teams.

Key words: process management, process management competency, conflict management, cooperative conflict management, team member performance, team member effectiveness

JEL code: L