Increasingly scholars emphasize that in complex and demanding contexts teams need to be able to adapt quickly and appropriately to recurrent changes (Baard, Rench, & Kozlowski, 2014; Burke, Stagl, Salas, Pierce, & Kendal, 2006; Rosen et al., 2011). Teams need to adjust their cognitive and behavioral processes to allow them to evaluate and analyze situations in order to adjust to them in the best way possible (Burke et al., 2006; Randall, Resick, & DeChurch, 2011; Uitdewilligen, Waller, & Pitariu, 2013). Team learning plays a crucial role as an essential, though not suf- ficient, condition for team adaptation (Burke et al., 2006; Rosen et al., 2011). Team adaptation, as a process, occurs when a team recognizes that a change happens in the team environment, and is able to effectively address the unexpected situation (Baard et al., 2014; Maynard, Kennedy, & Sommer, 2015). When team members engage in team learning processes, they evaluate and reflect on past performance episodes and interpret the consequences of team actions. Therefore, they are likely to improve their task and team processes, which enables the team to adapt to novel situations, which in turn facilitates performance e the objective criterion that indicates team level task accomplishment (Hackman, 1987; Rosen et al., 2011).

sk questions, seek feedback, reflect and discuss results, errors, and (un)expected outcomes (Edmondson, 1999). A shared understanding about the temporal aspects of work is crucial to promote the team learning process. As teams operate in organizational contexts that are systematically pressured by time, they are better able to engage in learning behaviors when team members share a temporal mental model e common knowledge about deadlines for task accomplishment, the pacing or speed at which activities occur, the time available for each activity, and the sequencing of tasks (Mohammed, Hamilton, Tesler, Mancuso, & McNeese, 2015; Santos, Uitdewilligen, & Passos, 2015; Standifer & Bluedorn, 2006). A temporal mental model helps teams to coordinate their activities according to the time schedule and to anticipate and understand the actions of each other based on a commonly shared blueprint of plans and schedules (Mohammed et al., 2015; Santos et al., 2015).

In this study we focus on the relevance of temporal mentalmodels for team learning. We postulate that when team members share a temporal mental model they make an efficient use of the team’s time, thereby creating more time for the team to engage in learning behaviors (Santos et al., 2015). The common temporal understanding ensures that team members are aligned regarding the temporal demands of the team’s work, such as when deadlines have to be met and how much time is available for each activity (Cannon-Bowers, Salas, & Converse, 1993). Teams may have a similar temporal mental model e a mental model that is similar among team members e and an accurate temporal mental model e a mental model that is appropriate for the task according to experts in the respective area (Edwards, Day, Arthur, & Bell, 2006). Thus far, researchers have investigated how task and team mental model similarity and accuracy interact to predict team adaptation and performance (e.g., Burtscher, Kolbe, Wacker, & Manser, 2011; Marks, Zaccaro, & Mathieu, 2000); however, research on the interactive effects of temporal mental model similarity and accuracy is missing. Moreover, a relevant discussion that needs clarification is whether teams with a similar but inaccurate temporal mental model are able to learn from each other as much as teams in which team members share a similar and accurate temporal mental model. We posit that when team members have a similar but inaccurate understanding of the temporal aspects of their work, this will keep them from discussing their tasks, reflecting on the results and learning from each other.