When Does Coordination Matter? Large-scale Evidence On Structural Contingencies In The Team Player Effect

Christoph M. Flath, Fabian Kosse, Victor Klockmann, Alicia von Schenk, Nikolai Stein and Nico Elbert

No 12626, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: The value of being a "team player" is not fixed – it depends on how work is organized. Using 1.5 million matches among 30,459 players in temporary teams formed by quasi-random matchmaking, we measure each player's coordination ability as a stable trait distinct from solo technical skill. This "team player effect" has a standardized coefficient ratio to individual skill (TPE/SELO) of about 47% in team contests but near zero in solo play. The return to coordination is strongly context-dependent: across a team-size × task-structure grid, the TPE/SELO coefficient ratio shifts from 35% to 72% (2.1×; 1.28×–1.49× within player), driven by team scale increasing coordination demands and task interdependence attenuating the predictive power of individual skill. Teammates perceive this quality, re-selecting high-coordination partners 23% more often. These findings connect individual coordination capabilities to organization design, providing field-scale evidence for classical contingency theory's prediction that the value of coordination depends on structural context.

Keywords: team performance; coordination; social skills; team player effect; familiarity; e-sports (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 J24 L23 M54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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