Bracketing team boundary spanning: An examination of task-based, team-level, and contextual antecedents

Abstract

There is growing recognition that teams do not function in a vacuum and that external boundary activities are important predictors of team performance, effectiveness, and knowledge sharing. In the past, researchers have focused on the effects of team composition or task characteristics as antecedents of critical boundary spanning activities. However, less effort has been directed at understanding how antecedents at multiple levels can simultaneously influence boundary spanning behavior in teams. This paper takes stock of over 20 years of research on the topic of team boundary spanning. Adopting a "bracketing" approach etc., we develop a multi-level theoretical model to guide future research on the determinants of team boundary spanning. This model specifies task-based, team-level, and contextual antecedents of team boundary spanning and outlines the contingencies shaping the emergence of effective boundary-management behavior in teams. © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.