The psychological costs of knowledge specialization in groups: Unique expertise leaves you out of the loop

Knowledge specialization, such as that present in cross-functional teams, produces both positive and negative outcomes. Our research investigated how unique expertise can lead to feelings of ostracism in the form of being out of the loop. Compared to group members with shared expertise, members with unique expertise felt out of the loop and experienced decreased fulfillment of fundamental needs, particularly when their expertise was to be given less weight in the group’s decision. Possessing unique expertise did not inhibit leadership emergence, even when that expertise should not have been used in the decision-making process. So, although knowledge specialization can have positive consequences for teams and task performance, it also has some negative psychological consequences that need to be understood.

► Knowledge specialization can benefit cross-functional teams.
► However, we examined knowledge specialization as a source of ostracism.
► Results showed that unique expertise can leave one feeling out of the loop.
► Group members with unique expertise reported decreased fulfillment of needs.
► Possessing unique expertise did not inhibit leadership emergence.