The consequences of social category faultlines in high- and low-context cultures: A comparative study of Brazil and Germany

Abstract

The present study sheds light on how differences between high- and low-context cultures influence the consequences of social category faultlines. To develop our theoretical arguments, we integrate ideas from faultline theory and Hall’s theory on cultural contexts. We test our hypotheses using survey data from 54 teams in the banking industry in Germany, a nation with a low-context culture, and in Brazil, a country with a high-context culture. In line with our theorizing, the study results reveal that whether social category faultline strength stimulates task conflict and is thus detrimental to team performance depends on the societal culture in which teams operate. Specifically, we observe that social category faultlines stimulate task conflict and thus have a negative indirect effect on team performance in Germany’s low-context culture, while we find no such effects in the high-context culture of Brazil. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study and close with some suggestions for future research.

Primary health care team faultlines and team performance: the mediating role of knowledge sharing

“…It proposes a research framework that links social-category and information-based faultlines to knowledge sharing and team performance, revealing the mechanisms of family doctor team faultiness on team performance. This study further corroborates the negative association between social-category faultlines and team performance, aligning with the findings from previous studies ( Burmann and Semrau, 2022 ; Zhang and Chen, 2023 ). Additionally, this study identified that the impact of information-based faultlines is also negative in family physician teams.…”

“…The confirmed role of social-category faultlines in this study aligns with prior research. Previous scholarly efforts have strongly established that social-category faultlines are detrimental to team effectiveness ( Thatcher and Patel, 2012 ; Burmann and Semrau, 2022 ). Social-category faultlines can create stereotyping and team conflict ( Li and Hambrick, 2005 ; Thatcher et al, 2024 ), hindering smooth collaboration within family doctor teams, and negatively affecting team effectiveness.…”

“…The identified negative associations between faultlines and team knowledge sharing underscore the necessity of evaluating faultlines during team formation. Prior research also recommends that managers focus on team composition to minimize the likelihood of forming homogeneous subgroups ( Burmann and Semrau, 2022 ). In our results, the social-category faultlines of the family doctor teams affected both team knowledge sharing and team performance.…”

“…Scholars are actively exploring the role of team dynamics in studying the impact of the faultlines on team effectiveness, but the research still has limitations. The majority of the studies have focused on analyzing the role of team conflict and situational factors ( Mitchell et al, 2019 ; Burmann and Semrau, 2022 ). However, team processes and cohesion are bolstered through communication behaviors ( Bonito and Sanders, 2011 ).…”