Group Faultline Activation: Triggers, Processes, and Theoretical Implications

Group faultline theory has advanced understanding of between- subgroup and within-group processes and consequences; yet empirical research has generated mixed findings, pointing to the need to further investigate the activation processes of faultlines in order to better understand their impact. This symposium aims to describe recent research that explores the conditions that trigger or facilitate faultline activation and highlight opportunities for new theorizing and research. To date, most of the boundary conditions known to influence faultline activation evidently trigger social-categorization processes based on general social categories such as gender and ethnicity. There is still a dearth of research on contextual factors other than social-categorization triggers although the organizational conditions within which work groups are embedded vary widely in numerous other ways. In addition, the processes of faultline activation in various organizational contexts are not fully understood. Thus, drawing on ...