THESIS
2014
xi, 104 pages : illustrations ; 30 cm
Abstract
Prior relational demography research suggests that individuals' demographic
characteristics in relation to other members of their teams influence the individuals through a
self-categorization process (e.g., Chattopadhyay, 1999; Tsui, Egan, & O'Reilly, 1992). The
purpose of this dissertation is to extend the literature by incorporating a relational perspective.
Drawing on the dual (collective and relational) forms of social identity (Brewer & Gardner,
1996) and the influence of social hierarchy on self-concept (Kraus, Piff, Mendoza-Denton,
Rheinschmidt, & Keltner, 2012), I argue that high-status individuals have a salient collective
self and are thus like to work in a demographic context that defines a work team with clear
and positive features, whereas low-status individuals hav...[
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Prior relational demography research suggests that individuals' demographic
characteristics in relation to other members of their teams influence the individuals through a
self-categorization process (e.g., Chattopadhyay, 1999; Tsui, Egan, & O'Reilly, 1992). The
purpose of this dissertation is to extend the literature by incorporating a relational perspective.
Drawing on the dual (collective and relational) forms of social identity (Brewer & Gardner,
1996) and the influence of social hierarchy on self-concept (Kraus, Piff, Mendoza-Denton,
Rheinschmidt, & Keltner, 2012), I argue that high-status individuals have a salient collective
self and are thus like to work in a demographic context that defines a work team with clear
and positive features, whereas low-status individuals have a salient relational self and
therefore seek to work in a demographic context where they can develop clear and positive
roles in their particularistic relationships with fellow team members.
Specifically, I propose that demographic dissimilarity increases relational role clarity
and positivity for low-status members more than for high-status members, and that relational
role clarity and positivity increase member identification. I also propose that when the
permeability of the status hierarchy is high high-status members are more likely than
low-status members to perceive teams comprised of more higher-status members as having
clearer and more positive prototypes, that when status permeability is low high-status
members are more likely than low-status members to perceive teams comprised of more
higher-status members as having less clear and less positive prototypes, and that team
prototype clarity and positivity increase team identification.
I test these relationships in a survey study with 233 employees from 39 work teams of a
telecommunications company in Mainland China. Key findings largely support my argument
about the relational process of relational demography. The collectivistic process, however,
seems to be more pronounced for low- rather than high-status members. These results provide
evidence about the relational benefit of demographic dissimilarity. They also suggest that
lower-status members are more subject to the influence of team demographic context. These
findings yield practical implications on management of diverse teams.
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