Interpersonal emotion regulation and team effectiveness: a multilevel mediation and a team variation model

This study examines how team interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) shapes teamwork processes and outcomes. Although the influence of IER in dyadic relationships is well established, its understanding as a collective team-level phenomenon remains unexplored. We propose that teams develop shared regulatory practices comprising antecedent-focused strategies (addressing emotion causes) and response-focused strategies (managing emotional expressions) and that these differentially influence performance via team relationship conflict. Drawing on multisource data from 697 teams of a Latin American financial organization, we find that antecedent-focused IER reduces relationship conflict and enhances leader-rated performance, while response-focused strategies increase conflict without consistent performance effects. Alignment in regulatory perceptions within teams further shapes the conflict-reducing effects of antecedent-focused IER. Our findings extend emotion regulation theory beyond individual and dyadic levels by demonstrating IER as a collective team-level phenomenon and highlight the strategic importance of cultivating both regulatory strategy type and shared understanding of emotional regulation practices in teams.