Voice as a signal of human and social capital in team assembly decisions

First published September 4, 2021 in Research Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063211031303

Commentary

Team membership in open talent economies is fluid and interchangeable.

Illuminating these dynamics, we examine how the signaling of team members' human and social capital in the form of challenging and supportive voices can inform our understanding of how individuals across organizational networks self-organize into temporary work teams. We test our hypothesis in two separate multi-wave studies and find support for the hypothesis beyond homophily effects.

Challenging voices in the team in Study 1 found support for a human capital pathway that fosters perceptions of quality work that enhances personal reputation in the wider network. In this way, personal reputation predicts the team's assembly decisions.

In Study 2, we examine the social relational capital pathway alongside the human capital pathway. We found that supportive voices in the team foster friendships and increase the extent to which they are trusted in the wider network, and that trust subsequently influences team assembly decisions. Potential team members appear to prioritize social capital, as indicated by a supportive voice, over human capital, as indicated by a challenging voice, but people who have both human and social capital are also highly sought after during team formation.

The implications of the findings for the literature on voice and team building are that while potential team members appear to prioritize the social capital indicated by a supportive voice over the human capital indicated by a challenging voice, those who possess both human and social capital are also highly sought after during team building. However, people with both human and social capital are also highly sought after during team building.