People value for team effectiveness in China : The mediating role of leader identification

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between team leader's people value and team effectiveness based on social identity theory. This paper focuses on how team leader's people value affects team effectiveness in the Chinese context. It also examines the mediating effect of leader identification between leader's people value and team effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review on people value, leader identification and team effectiveness provided the authors' model and hypothesis. Using a sample of 64 teams with 386 employees and 64 team leaders from ten companies, hierarchical regression was conducted to test the hypothesis. Findings – The findings suggest that follower's identification with leader is an important way to understand leader's people value for employees in encouraging employees to strive for team effectiveness. Leaders in teams should pay special attention to their people value for employees. Research limitations/implications – The data are self‐reported and subject to biases, and may not be accurate, Both the scales of leader identification and team effectiveness were developed in western countries, and they may not capture the full meaning in China. Cross‐sectional data were used in this study; future research should use a longitudinal design to prove the direction of causality among the contracts. Originality/value – This paper is original in its investigation on how leader's people value influences team effectiveness, through the mediation of leader identification at team level in a Chinese context.