The cross-level effects of leadership emergence on teamwork effectiveness: the roles of behavioral integration and task uncertainty

Purpose Leadership emergence has increasingly played a vital role within teams. Drawing on social information processing theory, this study explores the cross-level mechanisms and outcomes through which leadership emergence is related to team task performance and team creativity via behavioral integration. Design/methodology/approach Using a multilevel structural equation modeling approach, data were collected based on the social network method from 379 frontline employees nested in 76 teams. Two-wave matched data between leaders and employees were analyzed. Findings The results indicate that leadership emergence is positively associated with behavioral integration, which in turn is positively associated with team task performance, while behavioral integration shows an inverted U-shaped relationship with team creativity. Moreover, task uncertainty positively moderates the effect of behavioral integration on task performance and moderates its inverted U-shaped relationship with creativity. Originality/value This study contributes to the understanding of how behavioral integration serves as a key mechanism linking leadership emergence to team effectiveness. It also highlights the moderating role of task uncertainty as a boundary condition in the relationship between behavioral integration and team effectiveness, offering practical insights for enhancing team functioning under uncertain task environments.