Teaming up with Temps: A Network View on the Effect of Work Status Diversity on Team Outcomes

Research on temporary employment has primarily focused on the implications for individuals and organizations. Since organizations are making frequent use of teams to structure their processes, it is important and relevant to better understand the implications of temporary workers on team outcomes. In this study, we use team process models (e.g., Input-Process-Output) and social identity theory to propose that work status diversity in teams negatively impacts team outcomes because it is detrimental to social networks (operationalized as advice and friendship network centrality and density). We sampled 58 work groups (240 group members and 58 group leaders) from the Netherlands, Romania, and Bulgaria to test our hypotheses. The results show that temporary workers have sparser social networks (receive fewer requests for advice, have fewer friendship ties) in comparison to their fellow team members with permanent contracts. At the team level, these social networks mediate the negative relationship between the...