Individual autonomy in work teams: The role of team autonomy, self-efficacy, and social support

Abstract

Task autonomy is long recognized as a means to improve functioning of individuals and teams. Taking a multilevel approach, we unravelled the constructs of team and individual autonomy and studied the interplay between team autonomy, self-efficacy, and social support in determining individual autonomy of team members. Hierarchical regression results of a survey among 733 members of 76 health care teams showed that individual autonomy was related not only to the level of team autonomy, but also to self-efficacy and social support. Moreover, results suggested that social support moderates the extent to which team autonomy is incorporated into the individual tasks of team members. In highly autonomous teams, individuals experiencing moderate support from co-workers and supervisors reported higher individual autonomy than members experiencing either low or very high support.

Notes

¹Please note that we in no way intend to criticize Langfred's study. The study was not designed with the purpose to examine the relationship between team and individual autonomy and, as such, made no claims about the appropriateness of the design for that purpose.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

H. van Mierlo

The study described in this article was part of The Netherlands' concerted research action on “Fatigue at Work”, granted by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; grant no. 580-02.206).