Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: what moderates the effects of workplace diversity?

Yves R.F. Guillaume*, Jeremy F. Dawson, Lilian Otaye-Ebede, Stephen A. Woods, Michael A. West

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

To account for the double-edged nature of demographic workplace diversity (i.e,. relational demography, work group diversity, and organizational diversity) effects on social integration, performance, and well-being related variables, research has moved away from simple main effect approaches and started examining variables that moderate these effects. While there is no shortage of primary studies of the conditions under which diversity leads to positive or negative outcomes, it remains unclear which contingency factors make it work. Using the Categorization-Elaboration Model as our theoretical lens, we review variables moderating the effects of workplace diversity on social integration, performance, and well-being outcomes, focusing on factors that organizations and managers have control over (i.e., strategy, unit design, human resource, leadership, climate/culture, and individual differences). We point out avenues for future research and conclude with practical implications.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)276-303
Number of pages28
JournalJournal of Organizational Behavior
Volume38
Issue number2
Early online date22 Jul 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2017

Bibliographical note

© 2015 The Authors. Journal of Organizational Behavior published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords

  • relational demography
  • work group diversity
  • organizational diversity
  • TMT diversity
  • workplace demography
  • diversity management

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