How Male‐Dominated Teams Deter Men's Contributions to Collective Creative Dynamics and Performance

Creativity has become increasingly critical for decision‐making, particularly at upper organisational levels where male‐dominated teams remain prevalent. While a substantial body of research has examined the relationship between gender diversity and collective creativity, far less attention has been paid to numerical gender dominance in creative teams, and especially to the dynamics of male‐dominated configurations. In this paper, we address this gap by examining how men's behaviour unfolds in male‐dominated teams and how these patterns translate into team dynamics and creative outcomes. Using a framed field experiment involving 55 male (and 33 female) experienced managers, we investigate how male‐dominated teams composition shapes men's contributions to collective creativity. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative analyses, we show that men in male‐dominated teams contribute fewer ideas, resulting at the collective level in fewer ideas and across fewer categories. Grounded in social role theory, we further identify three underlying mechanisms. First, men in male‐dominated teams are less likely to engage in idea bouncing, i.e., building on previously generated ideas. Second, they provide less positive feedback on peers' ideas. Third, they report higher confidence in their performance, fostering a satisficing tendency that reduces persistence in idea exploration. Taken together, our findings show that ideation is particularly constrained in male‐dominated contexts and point to actionable managerial implications. Beyond simply promoting gender balance, they highlight the need for targeted interventions to mitigate these gendered dynamics and foster more effective collective creativity.