The influence of team diversity on innovation: An examination of the mediating effects of cohesiveness in team level and cross level

• Main Authors: Yueh-Chiang Lee, 李粵強
• Other Authors: Ghi-Feng Yen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/52062675955670558058

博士 === 中原大學 === 商學博士學位學程 === 99 === This study investigates the relationship between team diversity and team/individual innovation by both team-level and cross-level perspectives, and explores whether cohesiveness mediates the aforementioned relationships. This paper uses multiple regression analysis and hierarchical linear model to test hypotheses. Analytical results from 123 teams and 626 respondents are summarized as follows: (1) the interesting finding for lack of significant relationship between team diversity and team/individual innovation implies that an offsetting effect exists in a heterogeneous team; (2) the positive effect of task-related diversity on individual innovation will be offset by the negative impact of bio-demographic diversity; (3) different types of diverse composition have different direct and contextual impacts on the team outcomes: the more task-related diversity is, the higher individual innovation will be; the more bio-demographic diversity is, the lower individual innovation will be; (4) different types of diverse composition have different effects on cohesiveness: the more task-related diversity is, the higher cohesiveness and its sub-dimension (sense of belonging) will be; the more bio-demographic diversity is, the lower cohesiveness and its dual sub-dimensions (sense of belonging and feelings of morale) will be; (5) cohesiveness and its dual sub-dimensions (sense of belonging and feelings of morale) correlate to team innovation positively in team-level, and have positive contextual effects on individual innovation in individual-level; (6) bio-demographic diversity affects cohesiveness as well as sense of belonging negatively, which, in turn, affects team innovation and individual innovation; (7) task-related diversity affects sense of belonging positively, which, in turn, affects individual innovation. According to analytical results, this study suggests human resource (HR) professionals should pay more attention to the advantages and disadvantages of team diversity as well as the proportion of task-related diversity to bio-demographic diversity when dealing with the offsetting phenomenon. And a valid recruiting and selecting process should be created and a specific training be initiated in order to build an efficient team. Finally, based on Input-Process-Output view, this study suggests that managers should focus on the mediating effect of cohesiveness on the relationship between team diversity and team/individual innovation.