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Dancing with inactive helpers: Effects of team members’ prosocial motivation profiles on team processes and performance.

An-Chih Wang^1,2; Tae-Yeol Kim^1,2; Yanyu Chen^3,1; Wen Wu⁴

¹ Division of Human Resource Management · ² China Europe International Business School · ³ National Sun Yat-sen University · ⁴ Beijing Jiaotong University

We integrate a self-determination conceptual lens and the social information processing perspective to examine how team members' prosocial motivation profiles are related to team processes and performance. Latent profile analyses based on two independent samples (190 and 110 teams) suggest that around one tenth of the team members and leaders are categorized as inactive helpers (i.e., low in both pleasure- and pressure-based prosocial motivation). Subsequent analyses indicate that the proportion of inactive helpers within a team has a detrimental effect on effective team processes, ultimately leading to a decrease in team performance. Our data also support a moderated mediation model, wherein the proposed negative indirect effect is alleviated when the team leader is a dual-role helper (i.e., high in both pleasure- and pressure-based prosocial motivation). In addition, the indirect effect is weakened (and even becomes positive in one of the samples) when the proportion of dual-role teammates within a team is high. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

DOI

10.1037/apl0001341

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