Re-ranking recommendations led teams to pick more different-race and different-gender collaborators, and nudged teams outscored self-assembled ones on creativity
In a 2×2 between-subjects laboratory experiment on the “My Dream Team” recommender system manipulating user agency (assignment vs. choice) and heterogeneity criteria (included vs. not included), 332 participants formed 83 four-member teams that completed a 30-minute creativity task; re-ranking recommendations by heterogeneity criteria significantly increased selection of different-race (β=0.69, p<0.01) and different-gender (β=0.68, p<0.01) collaborators, granting agency reinforced homophily and reduced surface-level differences, and nudged teams scored significantly higher on creativity than self-assembled teams (Δ=0.45, p_adj<0.05), with the nudge operating without users' awareness.