The effects of shared leadership and collective efficacy on team performance and learning: The mediating role of team action processes.

This article investigates how shared leadership—defined as the distribution of leadership influence among multiple team members—affects team effectiveness, specifically team performance and learning outcomes. Using a laboratory study of 85 five-person teams engaged in a dynamic decision-making task, the research demonstrates that shared leadership enhances collective efficacy (team confidence), which in turn increases engagement in team action processes such as goal monitoring, systems monitoring, backing up behavior, and coordination. These action processes mediate the positive effects of shared leadership on team task performance and reduce the time teams require to learn, although no significant effect was found on learning accuracy. The study highlights the unique role of team action processes over other teamwork processes (transition and interpersonal) in explaining how shared leadership influences team outcomes and suggests practical implications for encouraging shared leadership to foster both performance and efficient team learning.