The value of leadership: Evidence from a large-scale field experiment

Abstract

Companies increasingly make use of team-based organizational structures in complex non-routine tasks. To foster performance in these settings, scholars and practitioners alike have emphasized the potential of leadership. However, its value is difficult to identify in agile and cross-functional teams since leadership is often determined endogenously. To explore the causal impact of leadership, this study randomly encourages teams in a large-scale field experiment (281 teams consisting of 1,273 participants) to select a leader who consistently motivates or consistently coordinates their team. Both encouragements substantially improve team performance and systematically alter team organization, without reducing the originality of solutions.