The curvilinear relationship between team informational faultlines and creativity: moderating role of team humble leadership

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the curvilinear relationship between team informational faultlines and team creativity and the moderating effects of team humble leadership on the relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe multisource and longitudinal survey data were collected from 85 teams. The authors conducted linear regression analyses to analyze the data.FindingsThe results indicate that the relationship between team informational faultlines and team creativity is inverted U-shaped and such relationship is stronger in teams with low levels of humble leadership.Research limitations/implicationsThe research reconciles the mixed findings in prior research and enhances our understanding of the functionality of informational faultlines.Practical implicationsTeam managers should seek optimal levels of informational faultlines and make diversity coexist with similarity when assembling a new working group so as to utilize the benefits of team composition diversity and fuel collective creativity. Team leaders should learn humble leadership skills to encourage open communication.Originality/valueThe research is the first to adopt and build on the social information processing (SIP) perspective to explain the curvilinear relationship between team informational faultlines and team creativity.