Abstract:

Purpose:
Team shared mental model(SMM) means knowledge structure or cognition held by team members relating to task performance or problem solving. This study was conducted to validate Johnson’s team shared mental model scale((2007) for university students in Korea The SMM were consisted of (1) general task and team knowledge(using know followed), (2) general task and communication skills(comm), (3) attitude toward teammates and task(atti), (4) team dynamics and interactions(inter), and (5) team resources and working environment(environ). The general task and team knowledge is related to how the team interacts. General task and communication skills refer to the cognitive or physical ability that are needed to engage in, practice and interact with teammates(Johnson, 2007). Attitude toward team and task means kinds of team attitude which can defined as a state that influences a team’s choices or decisions to act in a certain way under particular circumstances(Cannon-Bowers, J. A. et al., 1995). Team dynamics and interactions are teamwork processes and procedures. Team resources and working environment were working atmosphere and team resources while performing the task(Johnson, 2007). This study was designed to examine factors of the Team SMM using the exploratory factor analysis(EFA) and the confirmatory factor analysis(CFA).

Method and results:
The subjects were 413 students of Korea local university in metropolitan cities. In advance, the EFA were administrated. Each factor has at least two items with a respective factor loading of 0.4 or over. These chosen items were not double loaded on any of the other factors. Using the selected factors with their own unique variables, a CFA was conducted and these five factors were again confirmed. Because these five factors were correlated each other, the ‘factor correlation model(a research model)' was constructed. It was compared with an alternative one without any correlations among the factors(an independent model), and the research model turned out to be a better fit. In order to get criterion-referenced validity, correlation analyses were conducted between SMM and satisfaction. There were statistically significant correlations between those team SMM variables and team satisfaction. In addition, theoretical and practical implications for team SMM scale were discussed with a few limitations of this study.

Keywords:

Team Shared Mental Model, scale validation, team satisfaction.