Asymmetrical task dependence and organizational performance: Should, and can, HR intervene?

Recent studies have indicated that asymmetrical task dependence among organizational members can affect dyadic work relationships, individual job satisfaction, and team learning and team performance. This study aims to go to the next level and investigates if – and how – asymmetries affect organizational performance. However, the key underlying theories (i.e. interdependence and power-dependence theory) are conflicted if this relationship would be positive or negative. Therefore new insights are necessary and to do so we draw from the literature on organizational trust climate to hypothesize it is a key mediator. To test the boundaries of our model, we then connect to the strategic Human Resource Management (HRM) literature and hypothesize that commitment-based HR practices act as a first- stage moderator. This study advances knowledge by a) showing that asymmetrical task dependence does matter at the organizational level and affects organizational performance, b) revealing that trust climate is a key underlying mechanism, and c) connecting recent discoveries within organizational behavior to the strategic HRM literature. Practically, this study is the first to provide clear organizational-level interventions. Our moderated- mediation model was tested, and fully supported, in a multi-source dataset of 67 small- and medium-sized organizations containing responses of 8390 organizational members.