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October 1, 2001Academy of Management Journal780 citations

The Influence of Demographic Heterogeneity on the Emergence and Consequences of Cooperative Norms in Work Teams.

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JCJ. A. ChatmanMidwestern UniversityFFFrancis J. FlynnStanford University

Key Points

  • To examine how demographic heterogeneity influences the emergence, longitudinal development, and performance consequences of cooperative norms within work teams.
  • Assessed student teams and corporate officers across ten business units within a financial services firm.
  • Applied social categorization theory to track changes in perceived cooperative norms over time as a function of member contact and demographic differences.
  • Greater demographic heterogeneity initially led to group norms characterized by lower levels of cooperation, but this negative effect diminished over time.
  • Individuals who differed most demographically from their group showed greater increases in perceived cooperative norms as interpersonal contact increased.
  • Cooperative norms significantly mediated the relationship between team demographic composition and subsequent work outcomes.

Abstract

Drawing from social categorization theory, we found that greater demographic heterogeneity led to group norms emphasizing lower cooperation among student teams and officers from ten business units of a financial services firm. This effect faded over time. Perceptions of team norms among those more demographically different from their work group changed more, becoming more cooperative, as a function of contact with other members. Finally, cooperative norms mediated the relationship between group composition and work outcomes.

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Cite This Study

Chatman et al. (2001) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69d96273da3af5b1d08365b2https://doi.org/10.2307/3069440
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