‘Would you like to talk about that?’ How and when group emotional awareness enhances effectiveness of gender diverse teams

The aim of this paper is to explore the moderating role of group emotional awareness and diversity beliefs in the relationship between gender diversity and group effectiveness. In study 1 (cross-sectional survey in 31 organizational teams), the interaction effect between diversity and awareness suggests that awareness contributes to a larger extent to team effectiveness in gender homogenous rather than heterogeneous teams. Considering the moderating role of diversity beliefs for the outcomes of diversity, in study 2 (an experimental study on 21 student project teams) we look at the interaction of diversity beliefs and group emotional awareness. Results suggest that a positive framing of diversity has the strongest positive impact on effectiveness. However, group emotional awareness cancels the negative framing effect of diversity on effectiveness. Our data gives evidence for the existence of an affective, rather than cognitive path to reaping the benefits of gender diversity without paying the price elicited by categorization.

Publication year:2013

Accessibility:Open