Raveh Harush

Purpose – Using social categorization perspective, this study explores the effect of global identity, perceived proximity and team interdependence on relational conflict in multicultural distributed teams.
Design/methodology/approach – Participants were 317 MBA students in 83 multicultural distributed project teams. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap methods were used to test the study model.
Findings – The results demonstrate that the indirect effect of global identity on relational conflict, through the pathway of perceived proximity, is moderated by team interdependence. More specifically, global identity leads to higher perceived proximity and lower relational conflict levels under low, rather than high, interdependence levels.
Research limitations/implications – The particular study context (multicultural distributed MBA student project teams) may limit the extent of the generalization of the findings.
Practical implications – The findings presented here can help practitioners in global organizations to defuse relational conflicts in multicultural distributed teams by embracing a global cultural approach and relying on shared global identity in team building, personnel selection and development. Additionally, managers should be conscientious when they use the practice of facilitating interdependence between team members and assess the need for other interventions.
Originality/value – This study advances multicultural distributed team research by highlighting the role of global identity in reducing relational conflict, identifying the mediation mechanism of perceived proximity, and the boundary conditions of team interdependence levels under which this attenuation effect prevails.

Keywords Multicultural distributed teams, Global identity, Social categorization, Cross cultural conflict, Social identity, Team interdependence

Today’s globalized environment exposes people to culture mixing—mixing of iconic symbols of different cultures in the same space at the same time. Findings on individuals’ exposure to culture mixing provide evidence for both exclusionary and inclusionary responses. In this article, we focus on the growing phenomenon of culture mixing of global and local symbols and artifacts. We generate a conceptual model to identify who is likely to respond in what way to the mixed cultural environment and why. To answer these questions, we build on the global acculturation model, which aims to explain individuals’ adaptation to the global environment by considering the relative strength of their local and global identities. We extend this model by considering not only the two entities’ relative strength but also their balance—the degree of symmetry between the identities’ strength. We propose that individuals with dominant (unbalanced) identity types (global or local) will exhibit negative and exclusionary responses to culture mixing, whereas individuals with balanced identity types (glocal or marginal) will exhibit positive and inclusionary responses to culture mixing. We also incorporate the concept of bicultural identity integration (BII) to suggest that individuals with high identification with both cultures (glocals) and with high BII will exhibit more inclusive responses than glocals with low BII. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Taking a constructivist, collaborative experiential learning approach to education and training of global managers, we designed an on-line, 4-week virtual multicultural team project and tested its effect on the development of management students’ cultural intelligence, global identity, and local identity. The total sample of 1221 graduate management students, assigned to 312 virtual multicultural teams, consisted of four cohorts, each participating in one 4-week project; one project was conducted every year between 2008 and 2011. All projects were designed in the same way, according to principles of collaborative experiential learning, and offered a psychologically safe learning environment that enabled trust building. Data on cultural intelligence, global identity, and local identity were collected by way of web-based questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the project, as well as 6 months later. Team trust was assessed in the middle of the project. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that cultural intelligence and global identity, but not local identity, significantly increased over time and that this effect lasted for 6 months after the project had ended. Trust as a team level factor moderated the project’s effect on team members’ cultural intelligence and global identity, with significant effects under moderate to high rather than low levels of trust.

Emotion displays do not only signal emotions but also have social signal value. A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that expressing anger when complaining may lead to positive outcomes for the complainant because anger signals goal obstruction and hence the presence of real harm. The results suggest that the social signal value of anger enhances the credibility of the complainant and hence leads to better compensation, but only when the complaint itself presents room for doubt. For highly justified complaints the additional expression of anger does not add information and is discounted. In contrast, showing an affiliative-smiling demeanor was found to enhance credibility for both types of complaints. Overall, the present research confirmed the important role of emotion expressions as social signals.