Can lone wolf tendencies be a good team player?: The mediating role of teamwork behavior with task self-efficacy and role clarity as moderators

Abstract

Individuals with lone wolf tendencies (LWTs) are high-performing employees who prefer to work alone and dislike teamwork. However, the impact of LWTs on team effectiveness remains an ongoing subject of debate. This study investigates the mediating role of teamwork behavior in this relationship, and examines the moderating roles of task self-efficacy and role clarity in their potential interaction with LWTs in predicting teamwork behavior. A survey was conducted among 443 Thai employees at a service industry company in Bangkok from August to October 2023. Results from PROCESS macro model 9 revealed that LWTs negatively influenced team effectiveness, and teamwork behavior significantly mediated this negative relationship. Furthermore, both task self-efficacy and role clarity were found to significantly interact with LWTs, either negatively or positively affecting their negative impact on
teamwork behavior. The implications are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.