INDIVIDUAL CLIMATE, AND GROUP-INTERACTION PROCESSES AS PREDICTORS OF WORK TEAM INNOVATION

The contribution of individual innovativeness and team climate factors to the rated innovativeness of work groups is examined in a study of 59 members of 13 team; in an oil company. A specific model of work team innovation was rested that proposes that four team climate factors-team vision, participative safety task orientation, and support for innovation-determine level of team innovation. Scores on measures of group interaction processes and team climate were related to external ratings of group innovativeness. The results showed that support for innovation was the most consistent predictor with negotiated vision and an aim for excellence (a subscale of the task orientation scale) also predicting externally rated group innovativeness. All four major theoretical variables correlated significantly with the interaction process category of innovating offering further support for theoretical predictions.