Reviewing and Revisiting the Processes and Emergent States Underlying Team Diversity Effects

Understanding explanatory team processes and emergent states is crucial for facilitating potential benefits and hindering potential pitfalls of team diversity. This systematic review synthesizes research regarding the processes and states related to team diversity since the categorization-elaboration model’s (CEM) introduction, against which we evaluate the literature. According to the CEM, an interplay of social and informational processes shapes diverse teams’ effectiveness. We show that despite the wide recognition of this interplay logic, there is a misalignment between CEM’s theoretical propositions and the actual conceptualizations and measurements of processes and states in primary studies. This misalignment is accompanied by primarily static designs and conceptualizations. Our review expands scholarly understanding of the interplay between social and informational processes and states in diverse teams, advancing knowledge of the diversity–team effectiveness relationship. Finally, we delineate imperatives for future research, embracing the dynamic nature of team processes and states.