When too little or too much hurts: Evidence for a curvilinear relationship between team faultlines and performance

Faultlines are inherent to many workgroups, but the literature has not fully explained what faultlines mean for team functioning. In this study, we investigate the curvilinear relationship between faultlines and team performance from a cross-categorization perspective. Analyses of multisource data obtained from 61 workgroups located in China support an inverted U-shaped relationship between faultlines and team performance. Additionally, we find that this curvilinear relationship is moderated by a team’s climate of psychological safety such that the curvilinear relationship is more pronounced among teams with a weaker psychological safety climate. The findings contribute to elaborating the nature of and advancing a contingency view of the relationship between faultlines and team performance. Theoretical implications are discussed along with possible limitations and directions for future research.