Social information processing theory (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978) posits that teams attend to social cues in the work environment to interpret and navigate organizational dynamics. Leaders, through their communication, provide these social cues, helping their team members make sense of their contexts (Chiang et al., 2021; Copeland, 1994).

Team reflexivity involves collective and intentional reflection on team objectives, processes and methods, followed by adaptive adjustments aimed at improving team functioning (Schippers et al., 2014, 2015). Higher levels of reflexivity encourage team members to proactively share information, diverse perspectives and specialized expertise, thereby... See more

In an interview, Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, identified communication as the most essential skill a leader can possess (Gallo, 2015).

Conversely, when a pro-self tendency dominates, a team's information processing may become fragmented or biased, as members prioritize individual interests, even at the expense of others or the team's effectiveness (Bechtoldt et al., 2010). We articulate that TMX functions as a team-level social motivational factor that shapes how a team... See more

are likely to motivate their teams to invest effort to seek additional information and peripheral cues to interpret the situation. Accordingly, these teams would engage in active information exchange, including sharing opinions and expertise, participating in critical discussions, and questioning and evaluating available information, all of which... See more

According to social information processing theory, leaders represent primary sources of social information, enabling teams to interpret their working environment (Copeland, 1994; Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978).

Indirect communication refers to a communication style in which the meaning is conveyed with implicit, abstract, vague or subtle words, rather than with explicit, clearly coded, transmitted parts of the message (Adair et al., 2016; Hall, 1977; Holtgraves, 1997).

Tannen (1981) further argued that individuals differ significantly in their preferences for indirectness, considering it a fundamental characteristic of conversational style

The MIP-G model suggests that teams operate as information processors, driven by two orthogonal motivational forces: epistemic factor and social factor (Bechtoldt et al., 2010; De Dreu et al., 2008). The epistemic motivational factor regulates how deeply teams search for and process information (De Dreu et al., 2008) and is closely associated with... See more