Collective Team Identification and External Learning

To further develop extant knowledge about the drivers of and conditions affecting team external learning, we studied the relationship between collective team identification and external learning and the moderating effect of psychological safety on this relationship. The results from a field study involving 61 teams show that collective team identification had a positive influence on external learning and that this relationship was moderated by psychological safety. We found an ∩-shaped relationship between collective team identification and external learning in groups with low levels of psychological safety. Excessive collective team identification actually repressed external learning instead of increasing it. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.