Abstract
Diversity and psychological health issues at the workplace are pressing issues in today’s organizations. However, research linking two fields is scant. To bridge this gap, drawing from team faultline research, social categorization theory, and the job-demands resources model, we propose that perceiving one’s team as fragmented into subgroups increases strain. We further argue that this relationship is mediated by task conflict and relationship conflict and that it is moderated by psychological empowerment and task interdependence. Multilevel structural equation models on a two-wave sample consisting of 536 participants from 107 work teams across various industries and work contexts partially supported the hypotheses: task conflict did indeed mediate the positive relationships between perceived subgroups and emotional exhaustion while relationship conflict did not; effects on stress symptoms were absent. Moreover, contrary to our expectations, neither empowerment, nor task interdependence moderated the mediation. Results indicate that team diversity can constitute a job demand that can affect psychological health. Focusing on the mediating role of task conflict, we offer a preliminary process model to guide future research at the crossroads of diversity and psychological health at work.
Highlights
Modern organizations rely on teams that are becoming increasingly diverse due to demographic changes, migration, and other factors (Süß and Kleiner, 2007; Humes et al, 2011; Frey, 2015)
To rigorously test the model’s ability to predict strain over time, we controlled for stress and emotional exhaustion at t1 in all our models
Perceived subgroups were neither directly associated with emotional exhaustion, b = −0.08, ns, nor was this association mediated by relationship conflict, b = −0.03, ns. These results indicate that individuals who perceive their team as fragmented into subgroups experience more task conflict which in turn leads to higher levels of emotional exhaustion
Summary
Modern organizations rely on teams that are becoming increasingly diverse due to demographic changes, migration, and other factors (Süß and Kleiner, 2007; Humes et al, 2011; Frey, 2015). While prior research has often focused on the effects of diversity on performance (for meta-analyses, see for example Bell et al, 2011; van Dijk et al, 2012), little is known about its impact on mental health. Caring for employees’ emotional and psychological health become increasingly important. While mental health impairments accounted for only 2% of sick leaves in Germany 40 years ago, this figure has grown to 14.7% in 2014 (Knieps and Pfaff, 2015), leading to direct costs of approximately €16 billion for the German. The situation is similar in the rest of Europe and in the United States (American Psychological Association Practice Organization, 2010; Eurostat, 2010)
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