Enabling or hindering? How tenure diversity and relationship quality shape issue-selling intentions

Liliane Furtado, Samir Vaz, Noel Torres Junior, Lívia Lopes Barakat and Pedro Spolaor

Evidence-based HRM, 2026, 1-17

Abstract: PurposeThis study examines how group-level contextual factors influence middle managers' intentions to involve senior managers in the issue-selling process formally. It focuses on the effects of tenure diversity and interpersonal relationship quality within workgroups.Design/methodology/approachA 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design was conducted with 208 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students who also held managerial roles in practice. The study manipulated tenure diversity and relationship quality and examined their joint effects on the willingness to formally involve senior managers.FindingsResults show that strong interpersonal relationships in groups with high tenure diversity reduced managers' willingness to formally involve senior managers. This finding highlights a complex interplay between diversity and relational dynamics in shaping formal issue-selling intentions.Practical implicationsOrganizations should consider both diversity configurations and relational environments when fostering proactive upward communication. Human resources practitioners must actively design structured communication practices to support middle managers.Social implicationsStrong social ties within diverse teams may encourage reliance on informal networks over formal mechanisms. This dynamic reshapes how strategic issues gain attention within organizational hierarchies.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the issue-selling and diversity literature. It reveals that strong interpersonal relationships can sometimes hinder formal issue-selling motivations. This challenges assumptions about the universally positive role of relational quality.

Keywords: Issue-selling; Organizational tenure; Quality of interpersonal relationships; Group diversity; Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ebhrmp:ebhrm-11-2025-0555

DOI: 10.1108/EBHRM-11-2025-0555

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