Effects of school team embeddedness on team trust and potency

This research surveyed a total of 323 local and foreign university students in Taiwan to examine the relationships of on- and off-the-team embeddedness with team behaviors by using the job embeddedness scale (JES) developed and validated by Lee et al. (Acad Manag J 47(5):711–722, 2004) and Mitchell et al. (Acad Manag J 44(6):1102–1121, 2001). The two composites of team embeddedness were measured with a total of 28 items, which asked students the extent to which they valued the attachment to their class team and school. For both local and foreign students, this research found that on-the-team embeddedness would affect team trust and team potency significantly while team trust would cause a positive direct effect on team potency. For foreign students, however, off-the-team embeddedness would not affect team potency significantly until team trust was introduced as a mediator. Moreover, significant differences were found in the relationships of nationality and years in university with off-the-team embeddedness. This study provides original evidence for the application of JES to school team relationships, and the link between school embeddedness and team effectiveness.