| Under dynamic hyper-competitive circumstances, continual improvement (CI) based on customer needs has being a vital element for firms to win competitive advantage. Quality improvement team is the fundamental form of undertaking CI efforts. As quality improvement tasks become more complicate and interdependent, quality improvement team needs to get along well with key external shareholders to face the challenge of resource restriction and knowledge scarcity, in order to improve quality performance. Then, how could quality improvement team manage boundary-spanning activities effectively? Although some studies have discussed the concept, multi-level antecedents, and team performance of team boundary-spanning activities, the dimensions, mechanism and antecedents of quality improvement team boundary spanning activities are still unclear. Further researches need to be done to uncover it, and to guide the practice of quality improvement teams.Therefore, we construct the research framework about the relationship of "task characteristics-quality improvement team boundary-spanning behavior (QITBB)-quality performance" based on resource dependent theory, managerial sensemaking theory, total management quality(TQM) theory and social capital theory, and focus on one core question:what are the contents of QITBB, and how to promote these activities? In order to answer the question, the paper has done four sector studies on QITBB. What are the key characteristics of QITBB construct, and the dimensions of QITBB (Study 1 & 2)? Whether task characteristics are the antecedents of QITBB (Study 3)? How does QITBB affect quality performance (Study 3)? How does team social capital moderate the relationship between QITBB and quality performance (Study 4)? How does QITBB evolve with the development of team life cycle (Study 5)?In study 1, semi-structured interviews have been conducted in 19 different enterprises to collect data, including 32 quality improvement team managers or members. Grounded theory (including open coding, axial coding, and selective coding) has been used to analyze interview data, which helps to discover the internal construct of QITBB. QITBB is a process of interaction that quality improvement team engages in establishing and managing external linkages within an organization or across organizational boundaries to accomplish quality tasks. In the Chinese context, QITBB may include relating activity, monitoring activity, and scouting activity. Our research extends the concepts and context characteristics of QITBB.In study 2,21 items are retained for the official pre-test on the base of grounded analysis conclusions, items selection and pre-test. With the split-half sample cross-validation approach, this research uses SPSS software to divide the 294 samples into halves randomly, where each subset is used for exploratory factor analysis(EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis(CFA), respectively. The pre-test retrieves 147 questionnaires, and through EFA 14 items (includes 3 dimensions) are retained. CFA verifies reliability and validity of the structure of QITBB, which includes three related dimensions(relating activity, monitoring activity, and scouting activity). It may not indicate that, the higher level of three related dimensions, the better. Firms need to manage QITBB balancedly according to specific conditions.Study 3 is to testify the task characteristics antecedents and effectiveness mechanism of QITBB through 161 valid group questionnaires. This research uses SPSS16.0 and AMOS7.0 to examine the reliability and validity of measurements, and then explores the direct and indirect affects among latent variables. The results indicate that task characteristics (which include task interdependence, task complexity, and task time pressure), are positively associated with relating activity, monitoring activity, and scouting activity, except task interdependence effects on scouting activity and task time pressure on monitoring activity. Relating activity, monitoring activity, and scouting activity not only are positively associated with quality performance directly, but the first two have indirect effects on quality performance through team efficacy.Study 4 is to test the moderating effects of team social capital on the relationship between QITBB and quality performance based on integrated research framework. This research examines the reliability and validity of team social capital measurements, using CFA to testify the two-level-two-factor structure model of team social capital, and multivariate regression analysis to testify the moderating effects. The findings of this research show that:(1) Team internal social capital positively moderates the relationship between monitoring activity and quality performance, but has negative effect on the relationship between scouting activity and quality performance. (2)Team external social capital significantly strengthens the effects of relating/scouting activity on quality performance, except for monitoring activity. (3) The interactive term of team internal social capital and team external social capital positively interacts with scouting activity to promote quality performance, while the effect is not obvious for relating or monitoring activity.Study 5 analyzes four cases of quality improvement team (HF pipeline fiberglass, LX electrical motor rotor, FL cellphone appearance, and JH diagnosis system improvement team) to explore evolving mechanism of QITBB with the team life cycle. Based on the growth stages of quality improvement team, through cluster analysis, ANOVA and LSD multiple group comparison, the results show that from start-up and organizing phase, conflicting and collaborating phase, reforming and renewing phase, to performing and achieving phase of quality improvement team, the level of relating activity reduces at first and then ascends, monitoring activity is increasing, but scouting activity drops off.Synthesizing the main conclusions of this study, compared with the previous studies, we construct the research framework about the relationship of "task characteristics-quality improvement team boundary-spanning behavior-quality performance", and the main innovate points are as follows. Firstly, grounded theory method has been used to discover the internal construct of QITBB and explore the test tools, which enriched and deepened the existing related researches about team boundary-spanning behavior. Secondly, based on resource dependence theory and managerial sensemaking theory, we analyze and testify the task characteristics antecedents and effectiveness mechanism of QITBB, which answers the question about why quality improvement team should manage boundary-spanning behavior. Thirdly, both internal and external team social capital are considered to analyze the moderating effects of team social capital on the relationship between QITBB and quality performance. Fourthly, case study and questionnaire are used to analyze evolving mechanism of QITBB with team life cycle, which promotes the further development of relevant theoretical field and guides firms to manage quality improvement teams dynamically.
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