Network Effects on Team Performance: The Effect of Deep Diversity

Explanations of team performance typically involve theory on how knowledge diversity provides the team with useful information and interpretations while team cohesion ensures that it will be effectively applied. In spite of clear theoretical expectations, the research has some inconsistencies in findings that can be addressed through careful modeling of networks. We distinguish how well network measures are associated with team cohesion and add birthplace dispersion as a measure of deep diversity that is closely associated with knowledge diversity. Using data on software development teams in India, we demonstrate that diversity measured through the geographical dispersion of home town has a strong effect on team performance, and this effect can be shown along with effects of the network and educational diversity.