THE EFFECTS OF SURFACE- AND DEEP- LEVEL DISSIMILARITY ON INDIVIDUAL WORK ATTITUDES AND COGNTIONS IN SELF-DIRECTED WORK TEAMS KARL AQUINO College of Business and Economics University of Delaware Newark, DE 19716-2710 Phone: (302) 831-6144 E-mail: aquinok@be.udel.edu ANTHONY M. TOWNSEND University of Delaware K. DOW SCOTT Loyola University Chicago ABSTRACT This study examines the interaction of surface level demographic differences and deep level attitudinal differences on team members’ formation of process attitudes toward their team and the aggregate impact of these factors on team performance. We hypothesize that the greater the dissimilarity between the employee and the composition of her work unit on the surface level demographic variables of age and ethnicity, and on the deep level personality characteristics of need for affiliation and autonomy, the more unfavorable her attitudes and cognitions will be toward the group. We also hypothesize that participation in the setting of group goals will decrease the importance of surface level dissimilarity. Results support the effects of surface level dissimilarities in age and ethnicity, but not deep level dissimilarities in personality. They also show participation minimizes the effect of age dissimilarity, but not ethnic dissimilarity. INTRODUCTION Relational demography has received considerable empirical support; however, a limitation of previous studies is that they have focused almost exclusively on surface level characteristics such as age, gender, or ethnicity. Yet we know that people also differ on deep level characteristics such as attitudes, values, and beliefs. We believe that the premise of relational demography can be logically extended to predict that the greater the perceived similarity between the deep level characteristics of the individual and the deep level characteristics of the other members of their social unit, the greater the attractiveness of that unit. For most people, initial perceptions of similarity or dissimilarity are likely to be based on surface level characteristics that are then used to infer similarity in attitudes beliefs or personality (Tsui, O’Reilly, & Egan, 1992). But these initial perceptions can change as people acquire more information, making deep level characteristics more important attributes for making similarity judgments (Harrison, Price, & Bell, 1998; Jackson, Stone, & Alvarez, 1993). Deep level characteristics are more likely to Academy of Management Proceedings 2001 OB: A1 Return to Best Papers Index