A longitudinal investigation of how intercultural competence and cultural diversity relate to teamwork in professional women's football

Abstract Scholars studying cultural diversity in groups have largely overemphasized implications for objective outcomes, overlooking relevant processes that influence those outcomes (i.e., teamwork) and team member competencies related to cultural diversity (i.e., intercultural competence). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to longitudinally investigate the relationship between two indicators of cultural diversity (i.e., national variety and language disparity), team members' intercultural competence, and perceptions of teamwork. A total of 501 professional women football players ( M age = 22.54 years, ± 4.46) from 21 teams across the top leagues in France (D1 = 177; D2 = 324) completed questionnaires pertaining to intercultural competence and teamwork, with 342 responding at all three time‐points. Measures of national cultural variety and language disparity were computed using the Blau index and Matiti index, respectively. Using multilevel latent growth curve modeling, results showed that intercultural competence tended to be positively associated with perceptions of teamwork and that these relationships became stronger in teams that were more diverse. The results also indicated that this positive effect varied as a function of the type of cultural diversity being considered and that the relationship patterns were stable across time. For example, intercultural competence only positively predicted teamwork execution in teams with high levels of national–cultural variety. Such nuanced findings are discussed in detail herein, with implications to the literature and future research directions being put forward. Further, major strengths pertaining to the elite nature and size of the sample and the focus on women's sport are emphasized.