Lingua franca proficiency and task expertise coexist in multinational teams as prominent status signals that are often relied upon to infer a member’s competence. These personal attributes, however, do not always suggest consistent information since those with lower lingua franca proficiency might be more expert at the task and vice versa. In examining their joint implications, we draw on status characteristics and expectation states theories to identify the signaling nature of each attribute. Unlike the categorically specific quality of task expertise, lingua franca proficiency possesses characteristics commensurate with both specific and diffuse signals: it represents a social group and, at the same time, carries valid information about performance for certain tasks. Using archival (Study 1) and experimental (Study 2) data, we explore how the hybrid nature of lingua franca proficiency shapes its interaction with task expertise and implications for subsequent leadership outcomes. We provide further evidence for the generalizability of our findings through a supplemental study that includes 18 interviews with current members of multinational teams across various organizations.
AikenL. S.WestS. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage.
2.
AlginaJ.SwaminathanH. (2011). Centering in two-level nested designs. In HoxJ. J.RobertsJ. K. (Eds.), Handbook for advanced multilevel analysis (pp. 285–312). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
3.
AndersonC.JohnO. P.KeltnerD.KringA. M. (2001). Who attains social status? Effects of personality and physical attractiveness in social groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1), 116–132.
4.
BaduraK. L.GalvinB. M.LeeM. Y. (2022). Leadership emergence: An integrative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(11), 2069–2100.
5.
BassB. M. (1949). An analysis of the leaderless group discussion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 33(6), 527–533.
6.
BassB. M. (1950). The leaderless group discussion technique. Personnel Psychology, 3(1), 17–32.
7.
BassB. M. (1954). The leaderless group discussion. Psychological Bulletin, 51(5), 465–492.
8.
BazarovaN. N.YuanY. C. (2013). Expertise recognition and influence in intercultural groups: Differences between face-to-face and computer-mediated communication. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 18(4), 437–453.
9.
BergerJ.CohenB. P.ZelditchM. (1972). Status characteristics and social interaction. American Sociological Review, 37(3), 241–255.
10.
BergerJ.FisekM. H.NormanR. Z. (1977). Status characteristics and social interaction: An expectation-states approach. Greenwood Publishing Group.
11.
BergerJ.RosenholtzS. J.ZelditchJ. , M. (1980). Status organizing processes. Annual Review of Sociology, 6(1), 479–508.
12.
BergerJ.WebsterM.RidgewayC.RosenholtzS. (1998). Status cues, expectations, and behavior. In ZelditchM. (Ed.), Status, power, and legitimacy. Routledge.
13.
BergerJ.ZelditchM. (1985). Status, rewards, and influence. Jossey-Bass.
14.
BourdieuP. (1991). Language and symbolic power. Harvard University Press.
15.
BrewerM. B.ChenY.-R. (2007). Where (who) are collectives in collectivism? Toward conceptual clarification of individualism and collectivism. Psychological Review, 114(1), 133–151.
16.
BrykA. S.RaudenbushS. W. (1992). Hierarchical linear models in social and behavorial research: Applications and data analysis methods. Sage Publications.
17.
BundersonJ. S. (2003). Recognizing and utilizing expertise in work groups: A status characteristics perspective. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(4), 557–591.
18.
CarsonJ. B.TeslukP. E.MarroneJ. A. (2007). Shared leadership in teams: An investigation of antecedent conditions and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 50(5), 1217–1234.
19.
CohenB. P.ZhouX. (1991). Status processes in enduring work groups. American Sociological Review, 56(2), 179–188.
20.
CorrellS. J.RidgewayC. L. (2006). Expectation states theory. In DelamaterJ. (Ed.), Handbook of social psychology (pp. 29–51). Springer.
21.
DahlinK. B.WeingartL. R.HindsP. J. (2005). Team diversity and information use. Academy of Management Journal, 48(6), 1107–1123.
22.
DeRueD. S.NahrgangJ. D.AshfordS. J. (2015). Interpersonal perceptions and the emergence of leadership structures in groups: A network perspective. Organization Science, 26(4), 1192–1209.
23.
D’InnocenzoL.MathieuJ. E.KukenbergerM. R. (2016). A meta-analysis of different forms of shared leadership–team performance relations. Journal of Management, 42(7), 1964–1991.
24.
DonnellanM. B.OswaldF. L.BairdB. M.LucasR. E. (2006). The mini-IPIP scales: Tiny-yet-effective measures of the big five factors of personality. Psychological Assessment, 18(2), 192–203.
25.
DubrovskyV. J.KieslerS.SethnaB. N. (1991). The equalization phenomenon: Status effects in computer-mediated and face-to-face decision-making groups. Human-Computer Interaction, 6(2), 119–146.
26.
EaglyA. H.KarauS. J. (1991). Gender and the emergence of leaders: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(5), 685–710.
27.
EdmondsonA. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383.
28.
EndersC. K.TofighiD. (2007). Centering predictor variables in cross-sectional multilevel models: A new look at an old issue. Psychological Methods, 12(2), 121–138.
29.
FeelyA. J.HarzingA. (2003). Language management in multinational companies. Cross Cultural Management: International Journal, 10(2), 37–52.
30.
FişekM. H.BergerJ.NormanR. Z. (2005). Status cues and the formation of expectations. Social Science Research, 34(1), 80–102.
31.
FotiR. J.HauensteinN. (2007). Pattern and variable approaches in leadership emergence and effectiveness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(2), 347–355.
32.
FrenchJ. R. P.RavenB. H. (1959). The bases of social power. In CartwrightD. (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150–167). Institute for Social Research.
33.
GoldbergL. R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. Personality Psychology in Europe, 7(1), 7–28.
34.
HarzingA.FeelyA. J. (2008). The language barrier and its implications for HQ‐subsidiary relationships. Cross Cultural Management: International Journal, 15(1), 49–61.
35.
HembroffL. A.MyersD. E. (1984). Status characteristics: Degrees of task relevance and decision processes. Social Psychology Quarterly, 47(4), 337–346.
36.
HindsP. J.NeeleyT. B.CramtonC. D. (2014). Language as a lightning rod: Power contests, emotion regulation, and subgroup dynamics in global teams. Journal of International Business Studies, 45(5), 536–561.
37.
HoG. C.ShihM.WaltersD. J. (2012). Labels and leaders: The influence of framing on leadership emergence. The Leadership Quarterly, 23(5), 943–952.
38.
HumphreysP.BergerJ. (1981). Theoretical consequences of the status characteristics formulation. American Journal of Sociology, 86(5), 953–983.
39.
JohnO. P.SrivastavaS. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (pp. 102–138). Guilford Press.
40.
JudgeT. A.BonoJ. E.IliesR.GerhardtM. W. (2002). Personality and leadership: A qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), 765–780.
41.
KieslerS.SproullL. (1992). Group decision making and communication technology. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 52(1), 96–123.
42.
LauD. C.MurnighanJ. K. (2005). Interactions within groups and subgroups: The effects of demographic faultlines. Academy of Management Journal, 48(4), 645–659.
43.
LazearE. P. (1999). Culture and language. Journal of Political Economy, 107(S6), S95–S126.
44.
LiH.ChenY.-R.BladerS. L. (2016). Where is context? Advancing status research with a contextual value perspective. Research in Organizational Behavior, 36, 185–198.
45.
LiH.YuanY. C.BazarovaN. N.BellB. S. (2019). Talk and let talk: The effects of language proficiency on speaking up and competence perceptions in multinational teams. Group & Organization Management, 44(5), 953–989.
46.
MarschanR.WelchD.WelchL. (1997). Language: The forgotten factor in multinational management. European Management Journal, 15(5), 591–598.
47.
MayoM.MeindlJ. R.PastorJ. C. (2003). Shared leadership in work teams: A social network approach. In Shared leadership: Reframing the hows and whys of leadership (pp. 193–214). Sage Publications.
48.
MillerD. T.TurnbullW. (1986). Expectancies and interpersonal processes. Annual Review of Psychology, 37(1), 233–256.
49.
NeeleyT. (2017). The language of global success: How a common tongue transforms multinational organizations. Princeton University Press.
50.
NeeleyT. B. (2013). Language matters: Status loss and achieved status distinctions in global organizations. Organization Science, 24(2), 476–497.
51.
NeeleyT. B.DumasT. L. (2016). Unearned status gain: Evidence from a global language mandate. Academy of Management Journal, 59(1), 14–43.
52.
NeeleyT. B.HindsP. J.CramtonC. D. (2012). The (un)hidden turmoil of language in global collaboration. Organizational Dynamics, 41(3), 236–244.
53.
PaunovaM. (2015). The emergence of individual and collective leadership in task groups: A matter of achievement and ascription. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(6), 935–957.
54.
PiekkariR.ZanderL. (2005). Preface: Language and communication in international management. International Studies of Management & Organization, 35(1), 3–9.
55.
PutnamL. L. (1981). Procedural messages and small group work climates: A lag sequential analysis. In BurgoonM. (Ed.), Communication yearbook 5. Transaction Books.
56.
RidgewayC. L. (2001). Gender, status, and leadership. Journal of Social Issues, 57(4), 637–655.
57.
RidgewayC. L. (2003). Status characteristics and leadership. In van KnippenbergD.HoggM. A. (Eds.), Leadership and power: Identity processes in groups and organizations (pp. 65–78). Sage Publications.
58.
RidgewayC. L. (2011). Framed by gender: How gender inequality persists in the modern world. Oxford University Press.
59.
RidgewayC. L. (2014). Why status matters for inequality. American Sociological Review, 79(1), 1–16.
60.
RidgewayC. L.BergerJ. (1986). Expectations, legitimation, and dominance behavior in task groups. American Sociological Review, 51(5), 603–617.
61.
RobersonQ. M.SturmanM. C.SimonsT. L. (2007). Does the measure of dispersion matter in multilevel research? A comparison of the relative performance of dispersion indexes. Organizational Research Methods, 10(4), 564–588.
62.
RobichaudD.SchutterH. D. (2012). Language is just a tool! On the instrumentalist approach to language. In SpolskyB. (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of language policy (pp. 124–146). Cambridge University Press.
63.
RosetteA. S.LeonardelliG. J.PhillipsK. W. (2008). The white standard: Racial bias in leader categorization. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(4), 758–777.
64.
RudmanL. A.Moss-RacusinC. A.PhelanJ. E.NautsS. (2012). Status incongruity and backlash effects: Defending the gender hierarchy motivates prejudice against female leaders. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(1), 165–179.
65.
SauerS. J.Thomas-HuntM. C.MorrisP. A. (2010). Too good to be true? The unintended signaling effects of educational prestige on external expectations of team performance. Organization Science, 21(5), 1108–1120.
66.
SorrentinoR. M.FieldN. (1986). Emergent leadership over time: The functional value of positive motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50(6), 1091–1099.
67.
SpisakB. R.O'BrienM. J.NicholsonN.Van VugtM. (2015). Niche construction and the evolution of leadership. Academy of Management Review, 40(2), 291–306.
68.
Thomas-HuntM. C.OgdenT. Y.NealeM. A. (2003). Who’s really sharing? Effects of social and expert status on knowledge exchange within groups. Management Science, 49(4), 464–477.
69.
Thomas-HuntM. C.PhillipsK. W. (2011). The malleability of race in organizational teams: A theory of racial status activation. In PearceJ. (Ed.), Status in management and organizations (pp. 238–266). Cambridge University Press.
70.
TrafimowD.SniezekJ. A. (1994). Perceived expertise and its effect on confidence. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 57(2), 290–302.
71.
WebsterM.DriskellJ. E. (1978). Status generalization: A review and some new data. American Sociological Review, 43(2), 220–236.
72.
WebsterM.RashotteL. S. (2010). Behavior, expectations and status. Social Forces, 88(3), 1021–1049.
73.
WilliamsK. Y.O'ReillyI. I. I. C. A. (1998). Demography and diversity in organizations: A review of 40 years of research. Research in Organizational Behavior, 20, 77–140.
74.
WoodW.KartenS. J. (1986). Sex differences in interaction style as a product of perceived sex differences in competence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50(2), 341–347.
75.
YuanY. C.LiaoW.BazarovaN. N. (2019). Communication styles and expertise recognition in intercultural collaboration. Management Communication Quarterly, 33(2), 238–271.
76.
ZigursI.PooleM. S.DeSanctisG. L. (1988). A study of influence in computer-mediated group decision making. MIS Quarterly, 12(4), 625–644.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
