Becoming a group: value convergence and emergent work group identities.

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Organizational Behavior
• Group Dynamics

Background:

• Social identity theory explains how group membership influences individual behavior and attitudes.
• Previous research has explored group identity formation but less on the specific role of value convergence in work groups.
• Understanding how shared values emerge is crucial for explaining group cohesion and performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the process of group identity formation in real-life work groups.
• To examine the role of achievement values and value convergence in shaping work group identities.
• To determine if value convergence predicts work group identification and performance over time.

Main Methods:

• Employed a fully cross-lagged multilevel design with four repeated measures.
• Studied 68 real-life work groups to analyze social influence and value changes.
• Utilized multilevel polynomial regression to assess the predictive relationship between value convergence and outcomes.

Main Results:

• Group members' achievement values showed convergence over time due to mutual social influence.
• Value convergence, not initial value fit, was a significant longitudinal predictor of work group identification.
• Convergent achievement values also longitudinally predicted enhanced work group performance.

Conclusions:

• Social interaction within work groups leads to the convergence of members' achievement values.
• This value convergence is a key mechanism underlying the development of strong work group identities.
• Shared achievement values are critical for both group identification and improved work group performance.