Team Membership Change Events: Processes That Support Gender Diverse Teams

Abstract

Recent global events have triggered compositional changes in the workplace (e.g., intentional diversification and sudden team member removal). This study investigates whether team gender diversity and the novelty of membership changes moderate the relationship between team processes and performance. We found that development of team confidence plays a pivotal role in shaping performance through its influence on backup behavior. Moreover, gender-balanced teams were better at translating their confidence into backup behaviors, and teams experiencing reduced novelty during membership change events tend to leverage these behaviors more effectively, leading to enhanced overall performance. We explored several theoretical and practical implications.

Composition considerations for fluid teams: a review

“…For instance, Bowers et al (2000) found that gender homogenous teams performed better on simple tasks, while gender heterogenous teams performed better on difficult tasks. Schneid et al (2015) examined the moderating effect of societal gender egalitarianism and found that gender diversity adversely impacts performance in low gender egalitarianism societies that do not promote gender equality (see also Feitosa et al, 2023 ). Lastly, examining the moderating effect of study setting, Bell et al (2011) found sex diversity to be unrelated to performance in laboratory settings, yet negatively related to performance in field settings.…”