The Dynamic Nature of Status Across Groups: Status Spillovers, Variance, and Disagreements

Abstract

In an increasingly global world, where organizations are moving towards more cross-functional and flexible structures, a single individual may experience a range of different status levels across the various professional and personal groups and contexts he/she belongs to. How do these potentially contrasting experiences of status affect individuals’ self-perceptions, behavior and interactions towards others, and ultimately a group’s dynamics and outcomes? This dissertation draws attention to the broader status context that individuals bring with them to the group, investigating this proposition from three different perspectives: 1) testing how the level of status that an individual experiences in one group can “spill over” and influence self-perceptions, behavior, and status judgments by peers in other unrelated groups; 2) analyzing how status variance – the extent to which one’s status level varies across the different groups one belongs to – affects individuals both intra- and interpersonally; and 3) exploring how team members' cultural context can generate status disagreement within the team and ultimately impact team performance. In doing so, it contributes to the literatures on social hierarchies, team functioning, and multi-cultural diversity in groups, demonstrating the consequential importance of taking into consideration the aggregate experience of status across the various groups and contexts individuals belong to.