Faultlines Within and Outside Group Boundaries and Their Cross-Level Effects

Group faultlines refer to hypothetical dividing lines that split a group into subgroups based on the alignment of multiple individual attributes across group members (adapted from Lau & Murnighan, 1998). Due to this conceptualization of faultlines as a group-level construct, the majority of faultline research focuses on the impact of group faultlines on group processes (such as cohesion or conflict; Chiu & Staples, 2013; SchÃ¶lmerich, Schermuly, & Deller, 2016), behaviors (such as knowledge exchange; Lim, Busenitz, & Chidambaram, 2013), and outcomes (such as performance or decision-making; Bezrukova, Spell, Caldwell, & Burger, 2016; Chiu & Staples, 2013). Notable exceptions include some recent studies that investigate how faultlines affect outcomes at the individual and organizational levels, such as employees’ loyal behavior (Chung, Liao, Jackson, Subramony, Colakoglu, & Jiang, 2015) and organizational performance (Bezrukova et al., 2016). In this symposium, we further refine and expand understanding of the effect of faultlines on outcomes at different levels. Specifically, this symposium explores (1) the cross-level effect of group faultlines on individual outcomes (such as individual performance, self-representation approaches, and perceptions of inequality) and organizational outcomes (such as organizational performance); (2) unique conceptualizations of faultlines, such as inter-team factional faultlines, group faultlines that are based on individuals’ employment status and access to artificial intelligence, and faultlines that exist among team members when the team experiences member change (i.e., has newcomers); (3) and the role of subgroup dynamics (i.e., power imbalance across subgroups). Our first goal for this symposium is to expand our understanding of the cross-level impacts of group faultlines. Our second goal is to apply the faultline perspective to investigate interesting phenomena at the individual-, group-, intergroup-, or organization level and generate fruitful discussion to guide future research on this topic. Faultlines and Power Imbalance across Subgroups in Work Groups Presenter: Yunhyung Chung; U. of Idaho Presenter: Hana Johnson; U. of Idaho Inter-Team Faultline, and Its Influence on Team and Organizational Performance: An Inter-Team Trust Presenter: Qin Su; Chinese U. of Hong Kong Presenter: Amy Y. Ou; Department of Management &Marketing, Faculty of Business, Hong Kong Polytechnic Presenter: Jiwen Song; Renmin U. of China Presenter: Dora C. Lau; Chinese U. of Hong Kong Faultlines, Self-Employment, and AI Presenter: Chester S Spell; Rutgers U., Camden Presenter: Terri Griffith; Santa Clara U. Presenter: Yekaterina Bezrukova; SUNY Buffalo Individuals’ Self-Representation Approaches: The Moderating Role of Team Faultlines Presenter: Christina Hymer; Darla Moore School of Business, U. of South Carolina Presenter: Xing Liu; U. of South Carolina Presenter: Jieun Park; U. of South Carolina Presenter: Sherry M Thatcher; U. of South Carolina Adaptation of Diverse Teams to Member Change Presenter: Xing Liu; U. of South Carolina Presenter: Sherry M Thatcher; U. of South Carolina