Unlocking the Effects of Gender Faultlines on Team Creativity: Is Activation the Key?

Matthew J. Pearsall, Aleksander P.J. Ellis, Joel M. Evans

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

214 Scopus citations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to use faultline theory to examine the effects of gender diversity on team creativity. Results from 80 teams working on an idea generation task indicated that the activation of gender faultlines negatively affected the number and overall creativity of ideas. However, gender faultlines that were not activated had no effect. Results also indicated that the relationship between activated gender faultlines and team creativity was partially mediated by the level of conflict within the team. Specifically, emotional conflict partially mediated the effects of activated gender faultlines on the number of ideas generated. Implications are discussed, as well as possible limitations and directions for future research.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)225-234
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Applied Psychology
Volume93
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2008

Keywords

  • conflict
  • creativity
  • faultlines
  • teams

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Applied Psychology

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