The Moderating Effect of Cognitive Capability on Task Conflict: A Longitudinal Study of Task Conflict and Team Performance in Student Software Development Teams

摘要

For software development teams to achieve development success, task conflict needs to be managed skillfully to counteract its undesirable consequences to team performance. Conflict is dynamic in nature, and its effect on team performance varies during software development lifecycle. Based on information processing theory and team cognition theory, this study proposes cognitive capability as an important moderator on the task conflict - team performance relationship. A longitudinal study was conducted in 70 student software development teams and multi-level model of change was applied to analyze the data collected at different time points. Results supported the proposition that while task conflict interferes with team performance, its detrimental effects get more sever over time; and cognitive capability, which develops along with the maturing of team cognition as team members work together on the focal project, helps restrain and convert the undesirable effect of task conflict on team performance toward beneficial and constructive.