David Notgrass Patty Notgrass Christi Foster Tarleton State University ABSTRACT This study examined the moderating effects of the levels of the team leader’s use of intellectual stimulation and contingent reward behaviors on the relationship between the team’s level of acceptance of team intragroup conflict and the team’s level of cohesion. Using data from small, fast-forming, short-duration team contexts, the results of this study revealed that the level of the team leaders’ use of both intellectual stimulation and contingent reward behaviors moderated the relationship between the level of acceptance of intragroup conflict and the level of team cohesion. Keywords: Leadership, intragroup conflict, team cohesion, intellectual stimulation, contingent reward

KyungMoon Kim
Angela Peterson
West Virginia University Institute of Technology

ABSTRACT
This study investigates the impact of the founding teams’ knowledge (educational background
and related industry experience) on the firm performance (measured by the firm’s sales growth and
holding period return) of initial public offering firms (IPO), moderated by selected entrepreneurial
opportunities (novelty-centered opportunity and efficiency-centered opportunity). Utilizing a sample
of initial public offering firms, the results of this study revealed that while the founding teams’
educational background is positively related to firm performance in initial public offering firms, the
relationship between founding teams’ related industry experience and firm performance represents an
inverted U-shape. It was also found that the entrepreneurial opportunities (novelty-centered
opportunities and efficiency-centered opportunities) moderated the relationship between founding
teams’ educational areas and firm performance and the relationship between founding teams’ related
industry experience and firm performance. This research contributes to adding new insight the
moderating roles of the opportunities on the relationship between founding teams’ knowledge and
firm performance.

Keywords: Founding teams’ education, founding teams’ industry experience, initial public offering firms,
opportunities, firm’s sales growth, holding period return