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Moving to the next level: When and how team social dominance orientation affects innovation in work teams

Francesco Montani & Christian Vandenberghe

Applied Psychology: An International Review2026https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.70080article
AJG 3ABDC A
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0.50

Abstract

Social dominance orientation (SDO) reflects an individual's belief in and desire for hierarchical relations among social groups, including support for unequal treatment based on group status. Although widely studied at the individual level, research has rarely investigated SDO as a team‐level characteristic in organizational contexts or its implications for team outcomes. This study examines team SDO as a personality composition variable and elucidates when and how it harms team innovation. Drawing on social identity theory, we argue that under high ethnic diversity, team SDO undermines collective commitment to team goals, thereby reducing team innovation. To test these propositions, we conducted a three‐wave, multilevel study of 82 teams (616 employees and their supervisors) across Canadian public government departments. Consistent with our hypotheses, ethnic diversity moderated the link between team SDO and team goal commitment, as well as the indirect effect of team SDO on innovation through goal commitment. When ethnic diversity was high, team SDO reduced team goal commitment, which subsequently hindered innovation; these effects were nonsignificant when ethnic diversity was low. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for managing innovation in teams characterized by social dominance tendencies and ethnically diverse compositions.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.70080

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@article{francesco2026,
  title        = {{Moving to the next level: When and how team social dominance orientation affects innovation in work teams}},
  author       = {Francesco Montani & Christian Vandenberghe},
  journal      = {Applied Psychology: An International Review},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.70080},
}

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Moving to the next level: When and how team social dominance orientation affects innovation in work teams

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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