Collective Efficacy and Task Interdependence When Collective- and Self-Efficacy Affect Team Performance: The Role of Task Interdependence

The study examined task interdependence as a structural factor, which influences the emergence of collective-efficacy versus self-efficacy as a team level construct. It tested for the differential effects of selfand collective-efficacy on team performance, and the effects of initial perceptions of selfand collective-efficacy and record of past performance on the development of their subsequent perceptions. Results of a laboratory study demonstrated that collective-efficacy solidified as a meaningful team construct and influenced team performance only when a highly interdependent task required team members to closely interact and coordinate their efforts. Under conditions of low task interdependence, collective-efficacy had no basis from which to emerge as a higher-level team characteristic and no significance in what is, in essence, individual performances. In contrast, selfefficacy emerged as a meaningful construct that explained individual performance under low task interdependence conditions.