Is the Most Effective Team Leadership Shared? The Impact of Shared Leadership, Age Diversity, and Coordination on Team Performance

In the present paper we examine the moderating effects of age diversity and team coordination on the relationship between shared leadership and team performance. Using a field sample of 96 individuals in 26 consulting project teams, team members assessed their team's shared leadership and coordination. Six to eight weeks later, supervisors rated their teams' performance. Results indicated that shared leadership predicted team performance and both age diversity and coordination moderated the impact of shared leadership on team performance. Thereby shared leadership was positively related to team performance when age diversity and coordination were low, whereas higher levels of age diversity and coordination appeared to compensate for lower levels of shared leadership effectiveness. In particular strong effects of shared leadership on team performance were evident when both age diversity and coordination were low, whereas shared leadership was not related to team performance when both age diversity and coordination were high.