Cross-cutting faultlines of location and shared identity in the intergroup cooperation of partially distributed groups

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a study comparing the relative influence of location and shared identity in partially distributed work. Using an experimental task called Shape Factory, groups of eight participants were configured such that in the baseline 'strangers' condition only the location-based faultline was present while in the experimental 'intergroup' condition, participants from two different shared identity groups engaged in distributed collaboration, creating an additional, cross-cutting faultline. The results showed that participants in the intergroup condition, with both location-based and shared identity faultlines, performed at a higher level than participants in the strangers condition, with only the location-based faultline. In the intergroup condition, the performance effects of location and shared identity were roughly equal and did not affect each other differentially in combination.