Social Category Diversity Promotes Premeeting Elaboration: The Role of Relationship Focus

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Loyd, Denise Lewin; Wang, Cynthia S.; Phillips, Katherine W.; Lount, Robert B., Jr.
• 署名单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Oklahoma State University System; Oklahoma State University - Stillwater; Columbia University; University System of Ohio; Ohio State University
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1120.0761
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 757-772
• 关键词: social category diversity; premeeting elaboration; relationship focus; decision-making performance; DISAGREEMENT

摘要

A purported downside of social category diversity is decreased relationship focus (i.e., one's focus on establishing a positive social bond with a coworker). However, we argue that this lack of relationship focus serves as a central mechanism that improves information processing even prior to interaction and, ultimately, decision-making performance in diverse settings. We introduce the construct of premeeting elaboration (i.e., the extent to which individuals consider their own and others' perspectives in the anticipation of an interaction) and explore its link with social category diversity and relationship focus. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that when disagreement occurs, social category diversity increases premeeting elaboration, with relationship focus as a central causal mechanism. Experiment 3 shows that premeeting elaboration has important implications for performance: disagreeing dyads With social category diversity elaborate more prior to meeting and, as a result, perform better on a decision-making task than those with social category homogeneity. We discuss the value of studying early-stage interaction and propose a reconsideration of the downside of social category diversity..