This 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.
A 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.
Results 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.
Organizations 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.
Strong 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.
This 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.
