The emergence of TMT learning goal orientation: contextual effects of TMT demographic diversity on TMT cognitive processes

Abstract

This study examines the contingent influence of top management team (TMT) compositional diversity on the emergence of TMT learning climate. Based on a sample of 61 TMTs in Vietnam, the results show that TMT functional diversity exerts a positive moderating effect on the mediating process between TMT cognitive diversity and TMT learning goal orientation (LGO), providing confirmatory evidence for the positive effect of functional diversity on TMT dynamics. Nonetheless, neither TMT gender diversity nor educational diversity exhibits significant moderating impact on the development of TMT learning dynamics, suggesting that while social categorizations are conducive for the evolution of team climate in Western contexts, other compositional attributes such as relationship-based representations may be more prominent in East Asian culture. We contribute to the team learning literature by offering an integrated picture on how the interplay of TMT cognitive and demographic diversities determines executive members’ divergent attitude and then team learning proclivity.