Unlocking the Effects of Gender Faultlines on Team Creativity: Is Activation the Key?

The purpose of this study was to use faultline theory to examine the effects of gender diversity on team creativity. Results from 80 teams working on an idea generation task indicated that the activation of gender faultlines negatively affected the number and overall creativity of ideas. However, ge...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied psychology 2008-01, Vol.93 (1), p.225-234
Main Authors: Pearsall, Matthew J, Ellis, Aleksander P. J, Evans, Joel M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Conflict
Conflict (Psychology)
Cooperative Behavior
Creativity
Diffusion of Innovation
Diversity
Employees
Female
Gender
Gender Diversity
Gender studies
Group dynamics
Group Performance
Group Processes
Human
Human Sex Differences
Humans
Idea generation
Impact analysis
Innovation
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Profitability
Social Identification
Social research
Stereotyping
Studies
Team work
Teams
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Description
Summary:The purpose of this study was to use faultline theory to examine the effects of gender diversity on team creativity. Results from 80 teams working on an idea generation task indicated that the activation of gender faultlines negatively affected the number and overall creativity of ideas. However, gender faultlines that were not activated had no effect. Results also indicated that the relationship between activated gender faultlines and team creativity was partially mediated by the level of conflict within the team. Specifically, emotional conflict partially mediated the effects of activated gender faultlines on the number of ideas generated. Implications are discussed, as well as possible limitations and directions for future research.
ISSN:0021-9010
1939-1854
DOI:10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.225