A study on the antecedents of team members’ shared leadership competencies: from the perspective of interpersonal interaction

Abstract

In today’s era of technology, shared leadership offers a flexible and adaptive model to address the increasing complexity of business operations. Shared leadership competency—team members’ ability to effectively enact shared leadership—is essential for its development. From an interpersonal interaction perspective, this study explores the antecedents of shared leadership competency. Using a two-wave survey (2-week interval) in which 411 team members (nested in 104 teams) and their 104 team leaders provided matched questionnaires, multilevel regression of the member-reported measures shows that leader–member exchange (LMX; β = 0.42, p < 0.001) and team–member exchange (TMX; β = 0.59, p < 0.001) both positively predict shared leadership competency, and that team learning goal orientation (TLGO) strengthens both relationships (LMX × TLGO: β = 0.18, p < 0.001; TMX × TLGO: β = 0.09, p < 0.05). By integrating both exchange relationships and a team-level learning goal orientation, this study clarifies the interpersonal mechanisms through which shared leadership competency develops and offers concrete levers—high-quality exchange relationships and a learning-oriented climate—for organizations seeking to cultivate shared leadership.