Are We Aligned ... Enough? The Effects of Perceptual Congruence Between Service Teams and Their Leaders on Team Performance

Despite the widely acknowledged importance of concerted efforts between service teams and their leaders for increasing service quality, little is known about how and why congruent or divergent perceptions at the team-leader interface affect team performance. Drawing on theories from the field of sociocognitive psychology and from extant team literature, this study develops a research model that investigates crucial effect mechanisms of perceptual congruence between service teams and their leaders on team performance. Perceptual congruence is operationalized by examining agreement between teams and their leaders on three key team factors: service leadership, service commitment, and service systems. Analyzing leader, member, and customer survey responses from a large sample of service teams, we demonstrate that perceptual congruence between service teams and their leaders can, in and of itself, have an impact on team performance. Moreover, our results reveal the relevance of nonlinear effect mechanisms arising from perceptual congruence. These patterns illustrate the pervasive and intricate effects of perceptual congruence on team performance, highlighting the importance of developing awareness of the alignment of perceptions in the relationship between service teams and their leaders. Managers striving to encourage particular behaviors can use our results to direct customer-contact service teams more effectively.