When curiosity counts more: team curiosity, transactive memory systems, and team formalization

While curiosity has been widely studied at the individual level, its relevance to team functioning remains largely underexplored. Drawing on transactive memory system (TMS) theory, we propose that team curiosity-defined as the average level of curiosity among team members-enhances team performance by fostering the development of TMS within teams and that this indirect effect is moderated by team formalization (the extent to which team structures, roles, and routines are explicitly codified). We test our hypotheses using multi-source, time-lagged data from 87 teams across multiple organizations. The results indicate that team curiosity is positively related to the presence of TMS, which, in turn, predicts team performance. Importantly, the indirect effect of team curiosity on team performance via TMS is stronger among teams with higher levels of formalization. These findings contribute to the literature on curiosity by introducing team curiosity as a novel team-level construct, identifying its effect on team performance through TMS, and revealing how structural conditions shape its effectiveness.