Bridging Across Team Faultlines: How Inter-Subgroup Social Support Mitigates Relationship Conflict in Team Negotiation

Abstract: Team faultlines are often linked to relationship conflict and impaired collaboration, yet prior findings remain mixed. Building on social identity and social capital theories, this study argues that faultline consequences depend critically on the source of social support. We distinguish between intra-subgroup (bonding) and inter-subgroup (bridging) support and examine their differential associations with relationship conflict and subjective negotiation outcomes. We also test whether process accountability mitigates faultline-driven conflict and enhances performance. We conducted a laboratory experiment with 252 participants in 63 four-person negotiation teams using a 2 (high vs. low faultline strength) × 2 (process accountability present vs. absent) between-subjects design. Results show that inter-subgroup support is negatively associated with relationship conflict, which mediates the link to interpersonal and process satisfaction. In contrast, intra-subgroup support is unrelated to conflict, and process accountability does not moderate faultline effects. The findings highlight cross-subgroup support as a central integrative mechanism in negotiations.

Keywords: group faultlines, social support, relationship conflict, team negotiation, process accountability