Age-gender Faultlines and Team Innovation : The Role of Collective and Differentiated Leadership

Abstract

In this study we investigate if and when age-gender faultlines relate to team innovative performance. Based on social identity, social categorization, and social dominance theory we first hypothesize that team innovative performance is impaired if subgroups of old male members and young female members are formed within a team. In a second step, we apply the theoretical framework of inclusion in diverse teams and propose that both, creating collective belongingness and emphasizing the individual uniqueness of team members are important context factors to reach innovative performance in age-gender faultline teams. Therefore, we hypothesize that collective-focused leadership and differentiated individual- focused leadership, which are tailored toward the two distinct dimensions of the inclusion framework, are useful leadership behaviors for buffering the negative impact of age–gender faultlines on team innovative performance. We test the hypotheses using a sample of 89 research and development (R&D) teams from an automotive company. We find support for the main effect of age–gender faultlines on team innovative performance as well as the context role of differentiated individual-focused leadership, whereas collective-focused leadership turns out to be non-significant as a moderator. These results are discussed in light of their theoretical contributions to the diversity, faultline, and leadership literature, as well as their practical relevance for an increasingly diverse workforce.