The romance of working together: Benefits of gender diversity on group performance in China

The authors examine cross-cultural differences in the effects of gender diversity on group identification and performance using workgroups from American and Chinese firms. Nationality is found to moderate the relationship between gender diversity and group identification in that gender diversity associates more positively with group identification in Chinese workgroups than in American workgroups. Nationality does not moderate the gender diversity-group performance relationship: although the Chinese sample shows a positive association between gender diversity and group performance, the American sample shows no association. A second longitudinal study explores the mechanisms of relationship conflict and task conflict by which gender diversity benefits group performance in China. Results show that gender-diverse groups perform better than homogeneous groups by decreasing relationship conflict and task conflict. Future research directions and practical implications are discussed.