Anxious to Perform: Compositional Effects of Negative Task-Related Emotions in Teams

Abstract

We investigated how team composition, in terms of members’ emotions about the team tasks ahead, predicts performance on these team tasks. In 45 student teams, a higher average level of anxiety and happiness, but not anger, about the team assignments predicted higher team grades 6 weeks later. We explored potential mediating team processes. These findings contribute to the literature on team affect, which has so far struggled to identify benefits of negative affect in teams: task-related anxiety is linked to better performance of real-world teams. This highlights the importance of studying compositional effects of individual affective states in teams.