Understanding Why Team Members Won’t Share

Research on the effectiveness of team-based rewards (TBRs) is mixed, and empirical research regarding individual-level factors that may influence TBR receptivity is lacking. In a sample of 618 line-level employees representing 57 work teams in a Fortune 50 insurance company, the authors examined the impact of various individual-level factors such as employees’ collectivistic orientation, team-related attitudes, and justice perceptions on employee receptivity to TBRs. As predicted, the authors found that employees were generally more receptive to TBRs when they were collectivistic, preferred teams, were committed to their teams, perceived a fit between TBRs and other organizational changes, rated their teams as highly task interdependent, and perceived procedural and interactional justice. The effects of procedural and interactional justice were even stronger for employees working in teams with higher, rather than lower, levels of task interdependence. The article concludes with implications for both management scholars and managers in charge of implementing TBRs.