Academic Pedigree Diversity and International Workgroup Dynamics and Performance

Abstract

Academic pedigree is commonly believed to predict career success, and indeed prior research has shown a relationship between university rank and the ease of finding a job and higher pay upon graduation. Studies have also linked team effectiveness with the average academic pedigree of their members as well as with team diversity. What has not been researched is the effects of a team’s academic degree diversity on international team effectiveness and how this might vary based on the country of the team member. The present study seeks to fill this gap. Based on a sample of 490 international consulting teams, we find that university pedigree is a salient, transparent variable and that one’s alma mater matters in a team setting. We demonstrate that team members signal their university pedigree and identify, perhaps for the first time, university pedigree as a faultline variable, capable of creating sub-groups. We show that having team members from institutions of different ranks on the team leads to higher interpersonal conflict, lower task clarity, and ultimately lower team performance. Moreover, we demonstrate that these effects weaken when team members come from more reputable countries. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.