Health Care Manage Rev. 2023;48(3):229-236. doi: 10.1097/HMR.0000000000000369. Epub 2023 Mar 27.
Bringing together professionals with different knowledge and skills comes with the opportunity to spur the innovativeness of primary care teams. Nevertheless, empirical evidence shows that it is not self-evident that these innovations are also realized. The social categorization theory suggests that a better understanding of whether these potential team innovations are realized can be obtained by looking at the social cohesion of such teams.
The aim of this study was to study the relationship between functional diversity and team innovation in primary care teams by examining the mediating role of social cohesion.
Survey responses and administrative data of 887 primary care professionals and 75 supervisors in 100 primary care teams were analyzed. Structural equation modeling was used to examine a curvilinear mediated relationship among functional diversity and team innovation through social cohesion.
The findings show a positive relationship between social cohesion and team innovation as expected. Contrary to the expectations, the relationship between functional diversity and social cohesion is insignificant, and the results show an inverted U-shaped relationship between functional diversity and team innovation instead.
This study reveals an unexpected inverted U-shaped relationship between functional diversity and team innovation. This relationship is not mediated by social cohesion; however, social cohesion is still a significant predictor of team innovation.
Policymakers should be aware of the relevance as well as the complexity of creating social cohesion in functionally diverse primary care teams. As long as it remains unknown how social cohesion is stimulated in functionally diverse teams, it seems best for the team innovation to prevent bringing together too many, but also too few, different functions.
将具有不同知识和技能的专业人员聚集在一起，为基层医疗团队带来了激发创新的机会。然而，实证证据表明，这些创新是否能够实现并非不言而喻。社会分类理论表明，通过观察这些团队的社会凝聚力，可以更好地了解这些潜在的团队创新是否能够实现。
本研究旨在通过考察社会凝聚力的中介作用，研究基层医疗团队中功能多样性与团队创新之间的关系。
分析了 100 个基层医疗团队中的 887 名基层医疗专业人员和 75 名主管的调查回复和管理数据。使用结构方程模型来检验通过社会凝聚力的中介作用，功能多样性与团队创新之间的曲线中介关系。
研究结果显示，社会凝聚力与团队创新之间存在正相关关系，这符合预期。与预期相反，功能多样性与社会凝聚力之间的关系并不显著，相反，研究结果显示功能多样性与团队创新之间呈倒 U 型关系。
本研究揭示了功能多样性与团队创新之间出人意料的倒 U 型关系。这种关系不受社会凝聚力的中介影响；然而，社会凝聚力仍然是团队创新的重要预测因素。
政策制定者应该意识到在功能多样化的基层医疗团队中创造社会凝聚力的相关性和复杂性。只要尚不清楚如何在功能多样化的团队中激发社会凝聚力，似乎最好是为了团队创新，防止聚集太多但也太少不同的功能。
