Personality Configurations in Project Teams: A Comparison of Compilation and Composition Models

Composition models dominate research that relates team personality to team processes and outcomes. In this study, we adopt a compilation perspective to examine the facilitating and inhibiting influence of team level negative affectivity and conscientiousness on a triad of emergent states – psychological safety, social cohesion, and team potency. With regard to team personality, results from a sample of 62 project teams demonstrate that analyses using the compilation model offer important advantages over the more conventional composition approach. We find that positive skew in negative affectivity and conscientiousness is associated with increased levels of psychological safety. In effect, the presence of a fewer members high in either trait appears to benefit the development of psychologically safe team climates. Our findings also highlight the significance of team psychological safety, which was strongly related to the both social cohesion and team potency – emergent states with strong links to team effectiveness.