50 Years of Sports Teams in Work Teams Research: Missed Opportunities and New Directions for Studying Team Processes

Abstract

For the last 50 years, sports team samples have played a significant role in mainstream management literature. Prior research has analyzed different kinds of data, such as archival, survey-based, and interviews/observations, from a wide range of sports teams. These teams differ greatly in terms of contexts (i.e., recreational to intercollegiate to professional) and types of interdependence. We explore this body of work and focus on what is germane for the work teams literature as we examine 255 relevant articles spanning the years 1972–2021 in major management, organizational behavior (OB), human resource management (HRM), and strategy journals. Using the input-process-outcome model in our coding process, we identify the relative absence of the study of team processes. We develop a conceptual framework linking team interdependence, team processes, and the initiation and maintenance of these processes. This framework is intended to help guide future research on team processes in the context of sports team samples and enhance the generalizability of this research to the work teams domain. Additionally, we identify an agenda for future research using sports team samples for work groups/teams researchers. Overall, we intend to spur thoughtful and creative future research in the work groups/teams area using the rich field environment that sports teams present.