Hierarchical Differentiation Research Articles

EnhancerNet: a predictive model of cell identity dynamics through enhancer selection.

Understanding how cell identity is encoded by the genome and acquired during differentiation is a central challenge in cell biology. I have developed a theoretical framework called EnhancerNet, which models the regulation of cell identity through the lens of transcription factor-enhancer interactions. I demonstrate that autoregulation in these interactions imposes a constraint on the model, resulting in simplified dynamics that can be parameterized from observed cell identities. Despite its simplicity, EnhancerNet recapitulates a broad range of experimental observations on cell identity dynamics, including enhancer selection, cell fate induction, hierarchical differentiation through multipotent progenitor states and direct reprogramming by transcription factor overexpression. The model makes specific quantitative predictions, reproducing known reprogramming recipes and the complex haematopoietic differentiation hierarchy without fitting unobserved parameters. EnhancerNet provides insights into how new cell types could evolve and highlights the functional importance of distal regulatory elements with dynamic chromatin in multicellular evolution.

The crosstalk between lung cancer and the bone marrow niche fuels emergency myelopoiesis.

Modest response rates to immunotherapy observed in advanced lung cancer patients underscore the need to identify reliable biomarkers and targets, enhancing both treatment decision-making and efficacy. Factors such as PD-L1 expression, tumor mutation burden, and a 'hot' tumor microenvironment with heightened effector T cell infiltration have consistently been associated with positive responses. In contrast, the predictive role of the abundantly present tumor-infiltrating myeloid cell (TIMs) fraction remains somewhat uncertain, partly explained by their towering variety in terms of ontogeny, phenotype, location, and function. Nevertheless, numerous preclinical and clinical studies established a clear link between lung cancer progression and alterations in intra- and extramedullary hematopoiesis, leading to emergency myelopoiesis at the expense of megakaryocyte/erythroid and lymphoid differentiation. These observations affirm that a continuous crosstalk between solid cancers such as lung cancer and the bone marrow niche (BMN) must take place. However, the BMN, encompassing hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, differentiated immune and stromal cells, remains inadequately explored in solid cancer patients. Subsequently, no clear consensus has been reached on the exact breadth of tumor installed hematopoiesis perturbing cues nor their predictive power for immunotherapy. As the current era of single-cell omics is reshaping our understanding of the hematopoietic process and the subcluster landscape of lung TIMs, we aim to present an updated overview of the hierarchical differentiation process of TIMs within the BMN of solid cancer bearing subjects. Our comprehensive overview underscores that lung cancer should be regarded as a systemic disease in which the cues governing the lung tumor-BMN crosstalk might bolster the definition of new biomarkers and druggable targets, potentially mitigating the high attrition rate of leading immunotherapies for NSCLC.

Spatiotemporal Evolution and Market Dynamics of the International Liquefied Natural Gas Trade: A Multilevel Network Analysis

Natural gas is considered a transitional energy source in the transition to clean energy owing to its clean, efficient, and ecologically beneficial properties. The trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) serves as the backbone of the global natural gas trade and significantly influences the dynamics of the global energy trade system. This paper constructs long-term global LNG trade networks, and explores the spatiotemporal evolution and topological structures of the international LNG trade by utilizing multilevel network analysis methods, to provide insights for comprehensively understanding the market dynamics of the global LNG trade system. The findings indicate the following: (1) The global LNG trade volume shows an overall upward trend, and the global LNG trade network exhibits uneven spatial distribution, clear hierarchical differentiation, and an increasingly complicated structure. Global LNG trade is gradually changing from regionalization to globalization, and the international LNG market is undergoing structural reshaping. (2) The global LNG trade network continues to expand in size and density, and the rapidly growing LNG supply and trade relations are driving the formation of the global natural gas market. (3) Global LNG trade is still in a phase of rapid change, with the global efficiency of the network increasing and then decreasing. The trade network has traditionally been centered on ten countries, including Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Qatar. (4) The global LNG trade network exhibits clear core-periphery structures with considerable polarization effects, and the trade network structure is continuously evolving and is growing unbalanced. Finally, we put forward relevant policy suggestions to promote global LNG trade interconnectivity and enhance environmental protection and respond to global climate change.

Abnormal higher-order network interactions in Parkinson's disease visual hallucinations.

Visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease can be viewed from a systems-level perspective, whereby dysfunctional communication between brain networks responsible for perception predisposes a person to hallucinate. To this end, abnormal functional interactions between higher-order and primary sensory networks have been implicated in the pathophysiology of visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease, however the precise signatures remain to be determined. Dimensionality reduction techniques offer a novel means for simplifying the interpretation of multidimensional brain imaging data, identifying hierarchical patterns in the data that are driven by both within- and between-functional network changes. Here, we applied two complementary non-linear dimensionality reduction techniques-diffusion-map embedding and t-distributed stochastic neighbour embedding (t-SNE)-to resting state functional MRI data, in order to characterize the altered functional hierarchy associated with susceptibility to visual hallucinations. Our study involved 77 people with Parkinson's disease (31 with hallucinations; 46 without hallucinations) and 19 age-matched healthy control subjects. In patients with visual hallucinations, we found compression of the unimodal-heteromodal gradient consistent with increased functional integration between sensory and higher order networks. This was mirrored in a traditional functional connectivity analysis, which showed increased connectivity between the visual and default mode networks in the hallucinating group. Together, these results suggest a route by which higher-order regions may have excessive influence over earlier sensory processes, as proposed by theoretical models of hallucinations across disorders. By contrast, the t-SNE analysis identified distinct alterations in prefrontal regions, suggesting an additional layer of complexity in the functional brain network abnormalities implicated in hallucinations, which was not apparent in traditional functional connectivity analyses. Together, the results confirm abnormal brain organization associated with the hallucinating phenotype in Parkinson's disease and highlight the utility of applying convergent dimensionality reduction techniques to investigate complex clinical symptoms. In addition, the patterns we describe in Parkinson's disease converge with those seen in other conditions, suggesting that reduced hierarchical differentiation across sensory-perceptual systems may be a common transdiagnostic vulnerability in neuropsychiatric disorders with perceptual disturbances.

The Case of Vanishing Borders: Theorizing diversity management as internal border control

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the theorizing of diversity management, studied from a postcolonial perspective. This paper draws on an empirical study of a Swedish municipal school for adults in order to theorize how construction of privileged and disadvantaged ethnic identities is an integral diversity management practice, situated in the Swedish context. Further, the paper looks not only at limiting identity construction effects, but also at the traces of ongoing resistance. The contribution of the postcolonial lens in the study of workplace diversity lies in the conceptual space it provides for rendering visible, and legitimizing, non-traditional forms of resistance to hierarchical differentiation of cultural identities.

PERFORMING ON THE XIAO AND DI WIND INSTRUMENTS IN CHINA: THE HISTORICAL ASPECT

The article reveals the signifi cance of the bamboo fl utes xiao and di in the traditional Chinese culture. The importance of musical instruments in the historically established hierarchical differentiation and rituals of ancient Chinese society is emphasised. The author considers the history of modifi cations of the bamboo fl utes, which allowed the instruments to gain great popularity. The article emphasises that, despite the ubiquity of the European fl ute in the modern musical world, including China, performance on the xiao and di continues to develop today. This is evidenced by various concerts, competitions, special festivals of performing on traditional instruments (including the xiao and di), the repertoire being created for them to this day, as well as the perception of the xiao and di as important representatives of Chinese culture.

The Worldmaking of Mobile Vernacular Capitalists: Tracing Entanglements Between Race, Caste and Capital

This article traces the colonially inscribed spread of global capitalism through the lives and legacies of mobile vernacular capitalists in the Indian Ocean during the early-to-mid 20th century, centring the merchant-turned-industrialist-and-philanthropist Nanji Kalidas Mehta. Turning to a figure that shaped and challenged the infrastructures and outcomes of empire, but advanced forms of hierarchical differentiation – between capital and labour, and across race and caste – this article makes two interventions. First, it complicates literature on worldmaking by highlighting a figure in a register distinctive from the ‘progressive’ internationalisms associated with Bandung. Second, it reveals entanglements between race, caste and capital, illuminating how local hierarchies have been incorporated into differentiating logics of colonial capitalism. Considering sites, subjects and categories beyond an Atlantic frame lends to more capacious understandings of racial capitalism while challenging readings of caste as a subcontinent-bounded, feudal residue. This ultimately presents a more complex picture of global hierarchies shaping the (post)colonial present. La construction du monde des capitalistes autochtones nomades : tracer des liens entre race, caste et capital

Exploring the politics of linguistic difference: the construction of language requirements for migrants in jobs traditionally conducted by local native speakers

ABSTRACT While linguistic difference has been identified as an organizational source of disadvantage for migrants, the construction of language requirements in relation to which these differences emerge has rarely been examined. Yet, this is key to understand the politics of difference. Taking a social constructionist approach and relying on the concept of the ideal worker, this article analyzes a case study of an organization that hires migrants for jobs that used to be conducted by local native speakers. This research shows how conflicting constructions of language requirements may emerge in relation to different contextual causal powers. This might lead migrants to be constructed as different and not different from contrasting ideal worker notions, resulting in their simultaneous inclusion and marginalization in jobs at the bottom of the labour market. Moreover, this conflict generates the notion of the ideal non-ideal worker, which may produce a hierarchical differentiation within the category of migrant workers.

Research on the Marketing Strategy of High-end Luxury Goods

This paper aims to study luxury brands’ marketing strategies, taking coach and Chanel as examples. Because coach and Chanel belong to two levels of luxury brands, choose coach and Chanel as examples to study marketing strategy because marketing strategy is the most important part of luxury brands. And this paper chooses to study the marketing strategy from all aspects of the brand and, finally, get the different marketing strategies. Compared with Coach, Chanel is a top luxury brand. This paper studies the differences in marketing strategies among the two brands at different levels to infer what kind of marketing strategies can get good development. The relevant conclusions can help different brands or companies develop better, promoting social and economic development. This study chose to promote the whole article through investigation and online access. Through investigation, comparison, and summary, this paper finds that Coach and Chanel have different marketing strategies. The two luxury brands have chosen different marketing methods due to their differences in development history, brand image, and current situation, which is also the reason for their hierarchical differentiation.

HHSKT: A learner–question interactions based heterogeneous graph neural network model for knowledge tracing

Knowledge tracing (KT) has evolved into a crucial component of the online education system with the rapid development of online adaptive learning. A key component of the online education system, knowledge tracing (KT) assesses the state of knowledge by tracing each learner’s learning activities. The deep KT model, however, is unable to completely extract the features of the questions and skills due to the heterogeneity of the knowledge structure and the sparsity of the interaction records. The model’s capacity to handle diverse data is also restricted by over parameterization. Additionally, rather than focusing solely on a precise fit, Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) should stress interpretable feedback to the learner. The deep KT approach’s item parameters are still unable to give students useful feedback. This paper proposes to trace learner’s short-term attentional knowledge based on heterogeneous hierarchical differentiation, named HHSKT. Hierarchical heterogeneous knowledge structures and short-term memory enhancement will be used to model the effects of different interaction sequences on learners. Specifically, knowledge structure features are extracted by constructing a heterogeneous graph-based graph information augmentation component. Question differentiation parameters are derived by transforming the TrueSkill system. Besides, learners’ history-related practices are emphasized by windowing attention. Comparing regression-based and deep-based knowledge tracing experiments shows that HHSKT significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art approach on three real-world benchmark datasets (with an average AUC improvement of up to 3%), demonstrating the superiority of the proposed model.

Task uncertainty on the relationship between social hierarchy and leadership emergence

Self-managing teams have gained popularity, yet those teams in practice often have limited formal hierarchical differentiation, formal order, or imposed coordination. Social hierarchy has functions of establishing order and facilitating coordination, and it plays important roles in teams where team members autonomously interact and manage tasks. Two important forms of social hierarchy, status and power, critically affect how individuals on a team emerge as leaders, and thus help self-managing teams’ coordination. In the current study, two questions are explored: 1) How do informal status and power affect leadership emergence in project teams? 2) How do team task types affect the relationship between informal status/power and leadership emergence in project teams? A field study was conducted in a consulting firm in South Korea. The results show that the high-status individuals are most likely to emerge as leaders of project teams, and that the relationship between status and leadership emergence is stronger in teams dealing with highly uncertain tasks.

Tough times at the top: Occupational status predicts changes in job satisfaction in times of crisis

How do individuals with a higher versus lower occupational status experience major, unexpected changes to their work life? The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted most areas of work life and, thus, provides a unique opportunity to examine changes in work attitudes in response to a worldwide crisis. We predict that individuals with higher, but not with lower occupational status showed a decline in job satisfaction during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany (1st lockdown; March to May 2020), with subsequent recovery to initial job satisfaction levels. Based on role theory and social-psychological theories of hierarchical differentiation, we argue that, due to the profound work-related changes, individuals with higher (vs. lower) occupational status are more negatively affected in realizing their work goals and, thus, experience decreasing levels of job satisfaction. To test these predictions, we investigated trajectories of job satisfaction between December 2019 and August 2020 (7 measurement waves; N = 1583). Results of piece-wise growth curve models showed that individuals with higher occupational status showed a steeper decline in job satisfaction (followed by recovery) over time, whereas individuals with medium and lower occupational status did not experience a significant change in job satisfaction. In addition, we show that the decline in job satisfaction is moderated by perceived constraints at work associated with the pandemic among individuals with higher occupational status. Overall, these findings contribute to our understanding of the link between occupational status and job satisfaction in times of crisis.

Multidimensional Measurement and Enhancement Strategies of the Provincial Ecological Niche in the Yellow River Basin

Provincial economic development in the VUCA era (V: volatility; U: uncertainty; C: complexity; A: ambiguity) is facing great challenges. Comprehensively measuring the provincial ecological niche and giving enhancement strategies are significant for the implementation of the Yellow River Strategy. By constructing the S–R–F (Status–Relationship–Function) provincial ecological niche measurement framework using the SEM model (the structural equation modeling), this paper calculated the provincial ecological niche of the Yellow River Basin from 2005 to 2019 using an ecological niche width model, an ecological niche overlap model and an ecological niche suitability model and gave improvement strategies through spatial positioning. Results: (1) The ecological niche breadth in the Yellow River Basin is uneven, showing a spatial pattern of “low in the upper reaches, high in the lower reaches”. The ecological niche overlap changes from synchronous competition to hierarchical differentiation. The ecological niche suitability shows a transformation of “overall homogeneity but local variation”. (2) Qinghai and Gansu belong to subspace I of ecological niches; the strategies of ecological niche specialization, potential ecological niche and ecological niche synergy are appropriate. Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia belong to subspace III; the strategies of ecological niche specialization, ecological niche separation, potential ecological niche and ecological niche synergy are suitable. Shandong belongs to subspace VI; the strategies of ecological niche generalization and ecological niche synergy are fitting. Henan, Sichuan and Shaanxi belong to subspace VIII; it is advisable to choose ecological niche generalization, ecological niche separation and ecological niche synergy strategies. The possible marginal contributions of this paper are: (1) applying the idea of fitting optimization to guide the construction of a provincial ecological status indicator system, applying the validation analysis in the SEM model to test the suitability and validity of a provincial ecological status indicator system and improving the scientificity and objectivity of the indicator system construction. (2) Correlating the measurement model with the connotation (state–relationship–function) of the provincial ecological niche, the perspective of ecological niche research and improving the theoretical support for the construction of a multidimensional measurement model. (3) Spatial positioning of provincial ecological niches to improve the relevance and effectiveness of strategies.

Male intrasexual aggression and partial dominance of females over males in vervet monkeys

Females dominate a subset of the males in a minority of mammalian species despite male-biased sexual dimorphism. How this may arise is suggested by a computational model, DomWorld. The model represents male-biased sexual dimorphism through the males’ greater initial dominance and higher intensity of aggression, meaning that fights initiated by males have a greater impact than those by females. The model shows that female dominance over males increases with a greater proportion of males in the group. This happens because when males are involved in a larger fraction of fights this results in greater hierarchical differentiation (i.e., steepness). This causes rank overlap between the sexes (i.e., partial female dominance). We test the validity of these processes in vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus pygerythrus), a primate species with partial female dominance. We confirm that the proportion of males in the group is significantly positively correlated with the degree of dominance by females over males and with the steepness of the hierarchy among males exclusively, but not with the steepness of the hierarchy among all adults of the group. The steepness in male hierarchies correlated positively with female dominance over males in these groups. We show that steeper hierarchies among vervet males resulted from male-to-male fights being a larger proportion of the fights among all adults of the group. We conclude that the higher frequency of male intrasexual aggression favors female dominance in vervet monkeys. We also show that females received coalitionary support when they were in conflict with a male, mainly from other females, and that this favors female dominance in this species, but this does not explain why partial female dominance increased with the proportion of males in the group. We advocate further investigation of the influence of male intrasexual aggression on the degree of female dominance over males in other species with partial female dominance.

When Hierarchy Helps: Exploring Positive Outcomes of Social Hierarchies at Work

Social hierarchies—vertical differences among individuals in relation to a socially valued resource (Anderson & Brown, 2010)—are a fundamental feature of organizations (van Kleef & Cheng, 2020). The main two types of hierarchical differentiation in organizations are power, which refers to control over valued resources, and status, which refers to respect afforded by others. These social hierarchies may emerge both formally (e.g., receiving a promotion to a leadership role wherein one has authority over subordinates) and informally (e.g., referent power in a team from one’s expertise) (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). Although there are recognized benefits for organizations of formal social hierarchies (e.g., division of labor, motivating performance through hierarchy-related incentives; Halevy et al., 2011), at the individual and team levels, social hierarchies have traditionally been viewed through a negative lens by scholars and practitioners alike. This is demonstrated through maxims like “power corrupts” and “heavy is the head that bears the crown,” and supported through empirical studies. For example, studies have suggested that feeling powerful is associated with negative outcomes such as less trust in others (Schilke et al., 2015), greater abuse of subordinates (Foulk et al., 2018), overconfidence in decision making (Fast et al., 2012), and reduced connection with others (Galinsky et al., 2006; Lammers et al., 2012). At the team level, hierarchy may hurt team effectiveness (Greer et al., 2018) and hinder collective learning (Bunderson & Reagans, 2011). Summarizing these ideas, Fleming and Spicer (2014, p. 3) remarked that “power generally has negative connotations when it comes to understanding organizational life.” Despite their negative reputation, social hierarchies may not always be detrimental in organizational settings (e.g., Foulk et al., 2020; Tost & Johnson, 2019). Recent work has suggested that the effects of social hierarchies may be more nuanced than previously recognized (e.g., Foulk et al., 2021), and therefore, in this symposium, we seek to explore ways that power and status may be beneficial to individuals and teams, in addition to the more traditionally recognized costs of social hierarchies. In highlighting some positive effects of power and status, we contribute to management scholarship by bringing more balance to the literature on social hierarchies, underscoring the complex impact of social stratification in organizational settings. Taken together, the papers in our symposium suggest instances where power and status may be a welcome resource for enhancing work performance, wellbeing, and team functioning. The Influence of Negative Gossip about The Supervisor on Gossipers’ Work Engagement Presenter: Rui Zhong; Sauder School of Business, U. of British Columbia Presenter: Pok Man Tang; Texas A&M U., Mays Business School Presenter: Stephen Lee; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Power is Sticky: The Complicated Nature of Power for the Powerholder Presenter: Daniel Kim; U. of Florida Presenter: Remy E. Jennings; Florida State U. Presenter: Klodiana Lanaj; U. of Florida At the Intersection of Power and the Underdog Presenter: Tyler Sabey; Arizona State U. Preoccupation or Internalization? Pruning Perspectives on Decoupling Conflict Presenter: Ryan Scott Hemsley; Eli Broad School of Business, Michigan State U. Presenter: Zhiya Guo; Michigan State U. Presenter: Ajay Somaraju; Michigan State U. Presenter: Brian Alan Burgess; Michigan State U.

Serotonergic psychedelic drugs LSD and psilocybin reduce the hierarchical differentiation of unimodal and transmodal cortex

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin are serotonergic psychedelic compounds with potential in the treatment of mental health disorders. Past neuroimaging investigations have revealed that both compounds can elicit significant changes to whole-brain functional organization and dynamics. A recent proposal linked past findings into a unified model and hypothesized reduced whole-brain hierarchical organization as a key mechanism underlying the psychedelic state, but this has yet to be directly tested. We applied a non-linear dimensionality reduction technique previously used to map hierarchical connectivity gradients to assess cortical organization in the LSD and psilocybin state from two previously published pharmacological resting-state fMRI datasets (N = 15 and 9, respectively). Results supported our primary hypothesis: The principal gradient of cortical connectivity, describing a hierarchy from unimodal to transmodal cortex, was significantly flattened under both drugs relative to their respective placebo conditions. Between-condition contrasts revealed that this was driven by a reduction of functional differentiation at both hierarchical extremes – default and frontoparietal networks at the upper end, and somatomotor at the lower. Gradient-based connectivity mapping indicated that this was underpinned by a disruption of modular unimodal connectivity and increased unimodal-transmodal crosstalk. Results involving the second and third gradient, which, respectively represent axes of sensory and executive differentiation, also showed significant alterations across both drugs. These findings provide support for a recent mechanistic model of the psychedelic state relevant to therapeutic applications of psychedelics. More fundamentally, we provide the first evidence that macroscale connectivity gradients are sensitive to an acute pharmacological manipulation, supporting a role for psychedelics as scientific tools to perturb cortical functional organization.

Twice exceptionality in neoliberal education cultures: Implications for special educational needs co‐ordinators

‘Twice exceptionality’ describes the coexistence of a learning difficulty or disability (SEN/D) and exceptional performance in one area of learning. A popular discourse around autism and savantism in the United States promotes a hierarchical differentiation of the ‘twice exceptional’ based on measured intelligence and commodifies support for this group. Such support is designed to appeal to a neoliberal ethos of seeking competitive advantage in a marketised system. Alternatively, special educational needs co‐ordinators (SENCOs) could raise awareness and promote a non‐hierarchical understanding of ‘twice exceptionality’ in schools, thereby highlighting what is missed when allegedly science‐based discourses become hegemonic within education and when governmentally mandated accountability practices are prioritised over professional judgement and the interests of individual students. Calls for ‘twice exceptionality’ to be recognised as a SEN/D category risk additional pressures on SENCOs at a time when governmental demands on SENCOs throughout the COVID‐19 pandemic have served to heighten existing tensions associated with the neoliberalisation of education (commercialisation, commodification, decentralisation, and residualisation). Nevertheless, SENCOs could play a key role in addressing longer‐term processes affecting children with dis/abilities and learning difficulties such as stigmatisation and, in this instance, discriminatory configurations of ‘giftedness’.

Trade-off between reducing mutational accumulation and increasing commitment to differentiation determines tissue organization

Species-specific differences control cancer risk across orders of magnitude variation in body size and lifespan, e.g., by varying the copy numbers of tumor suppressor genes. It is unclear, however, how different tissues within an organism can control somatic evolution despite being subject to markedly different constraints, but sharing the same genome. Hierarchical differentiation, characteristic of self-renewing tissues, can restrain somatic evolution both by limiting divisional load, thereby reducing mutation accumulation, and by increasing cells’ commitment to differentiation, which can “wash out” mutants. Here, we explore the organization of hierarchical tissues that have evolved to limit their lifetime incidence of cancer. Estimating the likelihood of cancer in the presence of mutations that enhance self-proliferation, we demonstrate that a trade-off exists between mutation accumulation and the strength of washing out. Our results explain differences in the organization of widely different hierarchical tissues, such as colon and blood.

Feature Hierarchical Differentiation for Remote Sensing Image Change Detection

Change detection (CD) is the localization of pixel-level differentiation between images in a specific setting, <i>i.e</i>., same-spatial different-temporal scenario. For high-resolution remote sensing (HRS) images, CD models should guarantee detection accuracy for the changes of interest and filter background noise for other regions. To this end, we propose a time-specific model, dubbed feature hierarchical differentiation (FHD), to achieve change perception aimed at HRS images. Specifically, we present the time-specific features (TSF) module to acquire each temporal image&#x2019;s specific changes efficiently. Subsequently, the time-specific features from multi-temporal HRS images are adaptively fused by our proposed hierarchical differentiation (HD) module. Our FHD is subjected to elaborate experiments on four CD datasets. Quantitative and qualitative results outperform existing state-of-the-art methods. The ablation study further demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed modules. Code is available at https://github.com/ZSVOS/FHD.

Victorious and Hierarchical: Past Performance as a Determinant of Team Hierarchical Differentiation

Hierarchies emerge as collectives attempt to organize themselves toward successful performance. Consequently, research has focused on how team hierarchies affect performance. We extend existing models of the hierarchy-performance relationship by adopting an alternative: Performance is not only an output of hierarchy but also a critical input, as teams’ hierarchical differentiation may vary based on whether they are succeeding. Integrating research on exploitation and exploration with work on group attributions, we argue that teams engage in exploitation by committing to what they attribute as the cause of their performance success. Specifically, collectives tend to attribute their success to individuals who wielded greater influence within the team; these individuals are consequently granted relatively higher levels of influence, leading to a higher degree of hierarchy. We additionally suggest that the tendency to attribute, and therefore grant more influence, to members believed to be the cause of success is stronger for teams previously higher (versus lower) in hierarchy, as a higher degree of hierarchical differentiation provides clarity as to which members had a greater impact on the team outcome. We test our hypotheses experimentally with teams engaging in an online judgement task and observationally with teams from the National Basketball Association. Our work makes two primary contributions: (a) altering existing hierarchy-performance models by highlighting performance as both an input and output to hierarchy and (b) extending research on the dynamics of hierarchy beyond individual rank changes toward examining what factors increase or decrease hierarchical differentiation of the team as a whole.Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2021.1528 .