Predictors of Interdisciplinary Team Innovation in Higher Education Institutions

Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/

Y

20

Interdisciplinary Approach; Teamwork; Innovation; Universities; Higher Education; Group Dynamics; Predictor Variables

10.1007/s10755-023-09676-3

0742-5627
1573-1758

Higher education institutions recognize that today's problems are too complex to be conceptualized by a single discipline and are becoming increasingly committed to interdisciplinary work, as evidenced by the increasing number of interdisciplinary departments, internal funding opportunities, and research centers. Despite the widespread popularity and theorized benefits of interdisciplinary work, there is minimal research on predictors of team innovation of university-based interdisciplinary teams. To fill this gap in the literature, the authors developed and tested a comprehensive model of interdisciplinary team innovation. The results suggest that members of teams that had a shared vision, were task-oriented, and embraced debate, perceived their teams as innovative. Cognitively diverse teams that were task oriented, on the other hand, had higher team innovation performance. Lessons learned from this study are useful for all organizations that engage in interdisciplinary work and those professionals who work or advise interdisciplinary teams.

As Provided

2024

EJ1407764