Interdisciplinary Team Diversity and Problem Framing across Sustainability Research Projects

Abstract

The transition toward global sustainability necessitates complex problem-solving strategies that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. Consequently, interdisciplinary research teams have become the primary vehicle for addressing grand environmental and social challenges. However, the cognitive and demographic diversity inherent in these teams often complicates the critical early phase of collaborative research, specifically problem framing. This study provides a comprehensive panel analysis of interdisciplinary team diversity and its longitudinal impact on problem framing in sustainability research projects. Utilizing a multi-wave dataset encompassing numerous international sustainability research initiatives over a five-year period, this research examines how varying dimensions of diversity including disciplinary background, methodological expertise, and cultural context influence the convergence and quality of problem framing. The analysis employs fixed-effects panel regression models to control for unobserved time-invariant heterogeneity, revealing that while deep-level cognitive diversity initially increases transaction costs and delays problem consensus, it ultimately yields more robust, multidimensional problem frames. Conversely, surface-level diversity exhibits diminishing disruptive effects over time as teams establish shared epistemic norms. These findings contribute significantly to the science of team science by delineating the temporal dynamics of diversity, offering actionable insights for science policy makers, funding agencies, and research administrators aiming to optimize the architecture of sustainability research teams.