Faultline Activation and Deactivation and Their Effect on Conflict

In this study we present a multilevel cultural faultline model depicting the effect of faultlines in terms of national and organizational culture and personality on team conflict in offshore outsourcing teams. Some studies have addressed faultline activation, the process of triggering social categorization based on the salience of faultlines. However, faultline deactivation, the process of minimizing the salience of social categorization based on faultlines, is hardly tapped into. Therefore we introduce faultline deactivation to the concept of faultlines and include it with faultline activation to examine moderating effects. Based on an empirical study and interviews with experts, we find that the frequency of communication, as an activator, exacerbates the effects of faultline strength and that the group process of reflexivity, as a deactivator, mitigates the negative effects of faultline strength on team conflict.