Abstract

This study aimed to gain insight into undergraduate business students’ acquisition of teamwork skills. The primary goal of the study was to explore the extent to which undergraduate students acquire teamwork skills through the experience of working in teams (exposure), and to explore if support provided by professors facilitate the acquisition of teamwork skills. The secondary goal of the study was to investigate whether teamwork strategies (defined as conscious efforts used to acquire a skill before it is automatic; Afflerbach et al., 2008) mediate links between exposure and skills, and support and skills. Hypotheses were tested using data from several samples of students at different stages of the undergraduate business degree, using both archival (N = 3582) and survey data (N=894). Results demonstrated that exposure can promote the acquisition of teamwork skills, but alone, it may not be optimal. Rather, when professors offer support in the form of ‘Willingness to Intervene and Explain Expectations,’ this tends to promote a higher procurement of teamwork skills. Interestingly, too much professor support, in the form of ‘Interim Feedback’, seems to hinder skill growth, and this may reflect ‘over-scaffolding’ that is detrimental to learning. These findings can provide advice to professors about the types of support that are most beneficial to students’ acquisition of teamwork skills.