Amy E. Randel

Inclusion and Diversity in Work Groups: A Review and Model for Future Research

A great deal of research has focused on work group diversity, but management scholars have only recently focused on inclusion. As a result, the inclusion literature is still under development, with limited agreement on the conceptual underpinnings of this construct. In this article, the authors first use Brewer’s optimal distinctiveness theory to develop a definition of employee inclusion in the work group as involving the satisfaction of the needs of both belongingness and uniqueness. Building on their definition, the authors then present a framework of inclusion. Their framework is subsequently used as a basis for reviewing the inclusion and diversity literature. Potential contextual factors and outcomes associated with inclusion are suggested in order to guide future research.

Understanding Group Efficacy An Empirical Test of Multiple Assessment Methods

Methods of assessing group efficacy were examined using a multiparty role play negotiation. Group efficacy is defined as a group’s perceived capability to perform. Three methods of measuring group efficacy were compared: (a) group potency, (b) an aggregation of group members’ estimates, and (c) group discussion. These methods were used to assess group efficacy regarding several group performance characteristics. Analyses were conducted to assess various validity and measurement issues. All methods and types demonstrated construct validity; however, predictive validity was modest and varied across the measures. The group discussion method predicted group outcomes better than the potency scale or aggregate method. As expected, generalized efficacy measures predicted general performance indicators, and task-specific measures predicted task-specific performance.

I Am, I Think I Can, and I Do: The Role of Personal Identity, Self-Efficacy, and Cross-Application of Experiences in Creativity at Work

ABSTRACT This study examined creativity at work by considering a new construct, creative personal identity, in conjunction with creative self-efficacy and a problem-solving strategy. Results of a field study suggested that creative personal identity explained variance in creativity at work above and beyond creative self-efficacy, but that the two did not interact. Results also indicated support for the interaction of the self-concept and a problem-solving strategy. The positive relationship between creative personal identity and creativity at work was stronger when individuals applied nonwork experiences in efforts to solve work-related problems.

Knowledge Sharing in Teams: Social Capital, Extrinsic Incentives, and Team Innovation

Sharing knowledge among team members is critical to accomplishing innovation. However, there are motivation and communication barriers to sharing knowledge in teams. In this study of 219 work teams, two mechanisms that have potential for encouraging knowledge sharing (social capital and extrinsic incentives) are examined as they relate to tacit knowledge sharing, explicit knowledge sharing, and team innovation. Tacit knowledge sharing mediated the relationships between cognitive social capital and team innovation as well as between explicit knowledge sharing and team innovation. Explicit knowledge sharing mediated the relationship between relational social capital and team innovation, while both forms of knowledge sharing mediated the relationship between extrinsic incentives for knowledge sharing and team innovation.

Motivations to Maintain Social Ties With Coworkers The Moderating Role of Turnover Intentions on Information Exchange

This study examines the relationships among an individuals motivations to maintain social ties with coworkers, information exchange with others outside the firm, and turnover intentions. The authors considered both relationship motivation to maintain friendships at work and job facilitation motivation to maintain workplace relationships that facilitate an individuals job performance. Results suggest that both types of motivation are related to workplace social inclusion, a concept that has been based in part on the social capital literature. The authors also find that individuals with job facilitation motivation for maintaining social ties with coworkers engage in more interorganizational information exchange than do those with relationship motivation. When individuals have turnover intentions, the relationship between job facilitation motivation and interorganizational information exchange is stronger.

Where to Look? Creative Self-Efficacy, Knowledge Retrieval, and Incremental and Radical Creativity.

Although incremental creativity and radical creativity have been established as two distinct types of creativity, many questions remain about the antecedents and processes that result in these two types of creativity. This field study considered the impact of a motivational factor (creative self-efficacy), as well as factors that involve retrieving knowledge that may be applied toward a problem (scanning for information within the firm, scanning the environment external to the organization for new ideas, and cross-applying nonwork experiences to work) in efforts to determine whether they differentially relate to incremental and radical creativity. Results of a study conducted in eight organizations suggested support for a positive relationship between creative self-efficacy and radical creativity. Results also provided support for internal scanning (scanning within the organization for new ideas) as positively related to both incremental and radical creativity, but external scanning was only related to radical creativity. In addition, mediation analyses showed that external scanning partially mediated the effect of creative self-efficacy on radical creativity. One key implication of this study is that individuals who have a high level of creative self-efficacy can increase the likelihood that they will achieve radical creativity by scanning for information outside of their organizations boundaries.

Organizational Responses to Negative Evaluation by External Stakeholders The Role of Organizational Identity Characteristics in Organizational Response Formulation

The authors offer a framework based on the stakeholder, organizational identity, and strategic response literatures to specify how organizational identity influences an organization’s responses to negative evaluation in the public domain by external stakeholders. The framework proposes how the number of organizational identities possessed by an organization and the level of perceived organizational identity threat affect which type of response an organization will adopt. Directions for future research are developed and implications for practicing managers are proposed.

Gender Social and Personal Identity, Sex Dissimilarity, Relationship Conflict, and Asymmetrical Effects

Research on the linkage between sex diversity and relationship conflict has yielded inconsistent findings. In efforts to address this inconsistency and to better understand what contributes to group member perceptions of relationship conflict, interrelationships among sex dissimilarity, gender identity, and relationship conflict were examined utilizing theoretical frameworks from the literatures on identity, status, sex diversity, and asymmetrical effects. Results show that gender social identity moderated the effects of sex dissimilarity on relationship conflict such that in the presence of a strong gender social identity, sex dissimilarity increased perceptions of relationship conflict. This effect was stronger for men than for women, such that men with strong gender social identities in groups in which they were sex dissimilar had greater perceptions of relationship conflict. In addition, a significant three-way interaction was found, in which sex-dissimilar individuals with strong gender social and personal identities perceived a particularly high level of relationship conflict.

The Maintenance of an Organization’s Socially Responsible Practice A Cross-Level Framework

The maintenance of an organization’s socially responsible practice is explained by linking perspectives within a cross-level framework. The proposed framework incorporates research on the institutional environment (societal level), organizational identity (organizational level), and champions’ tactics (individual level). Under different institutional environmental conditions, organizational identity and champions’tactics are posited to be differentially effective in supporting a socially responsible practice. The theoretical framework presented is suggestive of directions for empirical work on the maintenance of firms’ socially responsible practices and offers suggestions to managers regarding ways of compensating for conditions that otherwisewould weaken the maintenance ofa socially responsible practice.

DIVERSITY AND DEMOGRAPHY IN ORGANIZATIONS: A LEVELS OF ANALYSIS REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

This article presents a comprehensive and qualitative review of how levels of analysis issues have been addressed in the diversity and demography literature. More than 180 conceptual and empirical publications (i.e. book chapters and journal articles) in this field are reviewed and coded regarding the specific incorporation of levels of analysis in theory and hypothesis formulation, representation of levels of analysis in measurement of constructs and variables, appropriateness of data-analytic techniques given the explicit or implied levels of analysis, and alignment between levels of analysis in theory and data in regard to drawing inferences and conclusions. Although the body of diversity and demography literature continues to grow, levels of analysis issues are rarely considered. Only a few reviewed studies address levels of analysis issues in theory development, and no reviewed studies employ appropriate multi-level data analytic techniques. Implications for future research are discussed, and recommendations for incorporating levels of analysis into diversity and demography research are provided.