The Influence of Cultural Diversity on Organizational Citizenship Behaviors in Professional Sport Teams: The Moderating Role of Intercultural Competence

Manon Eluère, Jean-Philippe Heuzé, Michael Godfrey, Valérian Cece (), Anne Bartel-Radic () and Luc Martin
Additional contact information
Manon Eluère: UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes
Jean-Philippe Heuzé: UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes
Michael Godfrey: Western University [London, ON, Canada]
Valérian Cece: HEP Vaud - Haute École Pédagogique du Canton de Vaud
Anne Bartel-Radic: UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes, IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble-UGA - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes
Luc Martin: Queen's University [Kingston, Canada]

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Abstract: Professional sports teams provide a relevant setting for the study of multicultural work groups. Engaging in additional tasks or voluntary efforts-broadly referred to as organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs)-is key to the effective functioning of such teams. Unfortunately, cultural diversity has been shown to decrease team cohesion and could therefore be detrimental to OCBs. However, intercultural competence (IC) should help team members understand and adapt to the cultural diversity in their teams. Because these aspects remain poorly understood, this study examines the influence of cultural diversity on OCB (i.e., sportspersonship, civic virtue, helping behavior), and the moderating role of IC. A vignette survey study was conducted with 219 professional athletes from different sports (i.e., football, basketball, and volleyball). Data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling. Results suggest an inverted curvilinear relationship between cultural diversity and OCB, with OCBs being significantly lower in the moderate cultural diversity condition compared to the low and high conditions. In addition, the results suggest that athletes' level of IC acted as a positive moderator between the level of cultural diversity and perceptions of OCB. These findings are discussed in relation to the literature on cultural diversity and (sport) team dynamics.

Keywords: cultural diversity; elite sport; intercultural competence; multicultural teams; organizational citizenship behavior; vignettes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05007597v1
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Published in International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, inPress

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05007597

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