IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v25y2014i1p57-72.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Status Inertia and Member Replacement in Role-Differentiated Teams

Author

Listed:
  • J. Stuart Bunderson

    (John M. Olin School of Business, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130)

  • Gerben S. Van der Vegt

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands)

  • Raymond T. Sparrowe

    (John M. Olin School of Business, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130)

Abstract

The arrival of a new member can provide the impetus for learning and performance improvement in groups, but only if the newcomer is accorded status within the new group. We examine newcomer status in cases of member replacement, i.e., when a newcomer assumes an existing role within an established group. Drawing from status characteristics and status construction theories, we suggest that status in role-differentiated groups is inertial—nominal roles acquire status value, and these role-related status attributions carry forward to affect the status of a replacement newcomer. We also suggest that these inertial status dynamics can be affected by the relative performance of the host versus donor group and that they will have consequences for group performance. These hypotheses were supported in a controlled setting using teams engaged in several rounds of a management simulation exercise. The theory and results of this study have important implications for research on intragroup status, membership change in groups, and the transfer of knowledge through member rotation.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Stuart Bunderson & Gerben S. Van der Vegt & Raymond T. Sparrowe, 2014. "Status Inertia and Member Replacement in Role-Differentiated Teams," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 57-72, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:25:y:2014:i:1:p:57-72
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2013.0835
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2013.0835
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.2013.0835?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kane, Aimee A. & Argote, Linda & Levine, John M., 2005. "Knowledge transfer between groups via personnel rotation: Effects of social identity and knowledge quality," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 56-71, January.
    2. Gruenfeld, Deborah H & Martorana, Paul V. & Fan, Elliott T., 2000. "What Do Groups Learn from Their Worldliest Members? Direct and Indirect Influence in Dynamic Teams," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 45-59, May.
    3. Corinne Bendersky & Neha Parikh Shah, 2012. "The Cost of Status Enhancement: Performance Effects of Individuals' Status Mobility in Task Groups," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 308-322, April.
    4. Choi, Hoon-Seok & Thompson, Leigh, 2005. "Old wine in a new bottle: Impact of membership change on group creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 121-132, November.
    5. Edwards, Jeffrey R., 1994. "The Study of Congruence in Organizational Behavior Research: Critique and a Proposed Alternative," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 51-100, April.
    6. Eric Luis Uhlmann & Victoria Brescoll, 2008. "Can an Angry Woman Get Ahead? Status Conferral, Gender, and Expression of Emotion in the Workplace," Post-Print hal-00516598, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas A. de Vries & Gerben S. van der Vegt & Kirstin Scholten & Dirk Pieter van Donk, 2022. "Heeding supply chain disruption warnings: When and how do cross‐functional teams ensure firm robustness?," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 58(1), pages 31-50, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. H. Colleen Stuart, 2017. "Structural Disruption, Relational Experimentation, and Performance in Professional Hockey Teams: A Network Perspective on Member Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(2), pages 283-300, April.
    2. Lewis, Kyle & Belliveau, Maura & Herndon, Benjamin & Keller, Joshua, 2007. "Group cognition, membership change, and performance: Investigating the benefits and detriments of collective knowledge," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 159-178, July.
    3. Zeynep Akşin & Sarang Deo & Jónas Oddur Jónasson & Kamalini Ramdas, 2021. "Learning from Many: Partner Exposure and Team Familiarity in Fluid Teams," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 854-874, February.
    4. Argote, Linda & Fahrenkopf, Erin, 2016. "Knowledge transfer in organizations: The roles of members, tasks, tools, and networks," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 146-159.
    5. Robert S. Huckman & Bradley R. Staats, 2008. "Variation in Experience and Team Familiarity: Addressing the Knowledge Acquisition-Application Problem," Harvard Business School Working Papers 09-035, Harvard Business School.
    6. Linda Argote & Sunkee Lee & Jisoo Park, 2021. "Organizational Learning Processes and Outcomes: Major Findings and Future Research Directions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5399-5429, September.
    7. Choi, Hoon-Seok & Thompson, Leigh, 2005. "Old wine in a new bottle: Impact of membership change on group creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 121-132, November.
    8. Christos Kolympiris & Sebastian Hoenen & Peter G. Klein, 2019. "Learning by Seconding: Evidence from National Science Foundation Rotators," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 528-551, May.
    9. Gino, Francesca & Argote, Linda & Miron-Spektor, Ella & Todorova, Gergana, 2010. "First, get your feet wet: The effects of learning from direct and indirect experience on team creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 102-115, March.
    10. McCarter, Matthew & Sheremeta, Roman, 2013. "You Can’t Put Old Wine in New Bottles: The Effect of Newcomers on Coordination in Groups," MPRA Paper 43532, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Bertermann, Britta & Virgillito, Alfredo & Naegele, Gerhard & Wilkesmann, Uwe, 2015. "Werkzeugkasten Wissenstransfer: Entwicklung einer praktischen Handlungshilfe für Betriebs- und Personalräte," Study / edition der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf, volume 127, number 291, March.
    12. Lamar Pierce & Jason Snyder, 2015. "Unethical Demand and Employee Turnover," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(4), pages 853-869, November.
    13. Pino G. Audia & Jack A. Goncalo, 2007. "Past Success and Creativity over Time: A Study of Inventors in the Hard Disk Drive Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(1), pages 1-15, January.
    14. Tammy L. Madsen & Elaine Mosakowski & Srilata Zaheer, 2003. "Knowledge Retention and Personnel Mobility: The Nondisruptive Effects of Inflows of Experience," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(2), pages 173-191, April.
    15. Sang-June Park & Youjae Yi, 2016. "Performance-only measures vs. performance-expectation measures of service quality," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(15-16), pages 741-756, December.
    16. Jamie L. Gloor & Manuela Morf & Samantha Paustian-Underdahl & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2020. "Fix the Game, Not the Dame: Restoring Equity in Leadership Evaluations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(3), pages 497-511, January.
    17. Adams, Leen & Faseur, Tineke & Geuens, Maggie, 2010. "The Influence of the Self-Regulatory Focus on the Effectiveness of Stop-Smoking Campaigns for Young Smokers," Working Papers 2010/38, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Faculteit Economie en Management.
    18. Marco Tortoriello & Ray Reagans & Bill McEvily, 2012. "Bridging the Knowledge Gap: The Influence of Strong Ties, Network Cohesion, and Network Range on the Transfer of Knowledge Between Organizational Units," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 1024-1039, August.
    19. Henrik Bresman, 2010. "External Learning Activities and Team Performance: A Multimethod Field Study," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 81-96, February.
    20. Ho, Foo Nin & Wong, Jared & Brodowsky, Glen, 2023. "Does masstige offer the prestige of luxury without the social costs? Status and warmth perceptions from masstige and luxury signals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:25:y:2014:i:1:p:57-72. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.