Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2022

DOI

10.1108/ET-06-2021-0208

Publication Title

Education + Training

Volume

64

Issue

4

Pages

461-475

Abstract

Purpose

Although the importance of teamwork competencies and effective conflict management in entrepreneurship education is recognised, we have limited knowledge of how these factors interact to influence performance in entrepreneurial teams. This research explores teamwork competencies as a predictor of entrepreneurial team performance and the moderating effect of emerging cognitive and interpersonal team conflict as levers in entrepreneurship learning.

Design/methodology/approach

A time-lagged survey method was used to collect data from 49 teams (156 individuals) of undergraduate students in an experiential new venture creation course. A predictive model of entrepreneurial team performance through hierarchical regression analyses and moderated-moderation analyses was tested.

Findings

Results reveal that teamwork competencies have a significant and direct influence on entrepreneurial team performance and that intragroup conflict strengthens that relationship when high levels of cognitive conflict and low levels of interpersonal conflict emerge.

Practical implications

The findings have implications for the design of entrepreneurial training programs, which will benefit from interventions aimed at teamwork competency development that incorporate strategies promoting constructive cognitive conflict while preventing the emergence of interpersonal conflict.

Originality/value

This study is a step forward in entrepreneurship education research from the perspective of social and interpersonal processes by identifying the patterns of intra-team conflict that lead to more effective entrepreneurial teams and more productive use of teamwork competencies in a learning-by-doing entrepreneurial context.

Comments

© 2022, Pilar Pazos, María Carmen Pérez-López and María José González-López.

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors.

ORCID

0000-0003-4348-7798 (Pazos)

Original Publication Citation

Pazos, P., Pérez-López, M. C., & González-López, M. J. (2022). Examining teamwork competencies and team performance in experiential entrepreneurship education: Emergent intragroup conflict as a learning triggering event. Education + Training, 64(4),461-475. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-06-2021-0208

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