Interteam Cooperation and Competition, Team Goal Orientation and Boundary Activities

Despite increasing scholarly interest in boundary activities in organizational teams, little research has explored mediating mechanisms between interteam cooperation and competition and boundary activities. The present study focuses on the potential cross-level mediating effect of team goal orientation on the relationships between interteam cooperation and competition and three forms of boundary activities. Drawing on Dragoni’s cross-level model of state goal orientation, three types of team goal orientation were proposed to mediate the relationships between interteam cooperation and competition, and their relevant forms of boundary activities. To test the mediation hypotheses, survey data were collected from 235 members of 45 South Korean work teams. Hierarchical linear modeling results revealed that interteam cooperation was significantly related to team members’ boundary spanning and reinforcement through the intermediary mechanism of team learning goal orientation. On the other hand, interteam competi...