Rather than using demographic characteristics as status-latent variables to investigate the effects of status dissimilarity as relational demography literature does, this research directly investigates status that is defined as the respect ones receive from others within a group, and examine the implications of status dissimilarity in groups. It is hypothesized that the interaction between status dissimilarity and individual status level is negatively associated with group members' identification through the mechanism of emotions. And the effects are believed to be stronger for relatively higher status members. Based on a sample of MBA students, the hypotheses are mostly supported: being different from others in status could cause more low pleasure and low arousal emotions (LPLA...[ Read more ]

Rather than using demographic characteristics as status-latent variables to investigate the effects of status dissimilarity as relational demography literature does, this research directly investigates status that is defined as the respect ones receive from others within a group, and examine the implications of status dissimilarity in groups. It is hypothesized that the interaction between status dissimilarity and individual status level is negatively associated with group members' identification through the mechanism of emotions. And the effects are believed to be stronger for relatively higher status members. Based on a sample of MBA students, the hypotheses are mostly supported: being different from others in status could cause more low pleasure and low arousal emotions (LPLA) and less high pleasure and high arousal emotions (HPHA), for higher status members than for lower status members. Furthermore, the testing of moderated mediation shows that for relatively higher status members, HPHA emotions could mediate the relation between status dissimilarity and group identification.

Key words: status dissimilarity; emotions; group identification; asymmetric effect