How Team Turnover Disrupts Team Performance: A Human Resources Loss Perspective

This study examined the influence of team turnover on team performance. We investigated whether task and relationship conflict mediate this relationship and whether team tenure moderates the relationship between turnover, conflict, and performance in teams. We built and tested a mediated moderation model, utilizing data from 65 health care teams. Results showed that task conflict, but not relationship conflict, operates as a mediating mechanism between team turnover and team performance. We also found that the indirect effect of task conflict depended upon team tenure: Task conflict only mediated the team turnover – team performance relationship when team tenure was low or moderate. When team tenure was high, team turnover did not associate with task conflict and team performance. It appears that while team turnover negatively influences team performance via task conflict, team tenure helps teams to reduce turnover’s negative consequences. We discuss implications for theory and practice.