The Effects of Team Diversity on Team Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review of Team Demography

Over the past few decades, a great deal of research has been conducted to examine the complex relationship between team diversity and team outcomes. However, the impact of team diversity on team outcomes and moderating variables potentially affecting this relationship are still not fully answered wi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Management 2007-12, Vol.33 (6), p.987-1015
Main Authors: Horwitz, Sujin K., Horwitz, Irwin B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Demographics
Demography
Group dynamics
Meta-analysis
Studies
Teams
Workplace diversity
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Summary:Over the past few decades, a great deal of research has been conducted to examine the complex relationship between team diversity and team outcomes. However, the impact of team diversity on team outcomes and moderating variables potentially affecting this relationship are still not fully answered with mixed findings in the literature. These research issues were, therefore, addressed by quantitatively reviewing extant work and provided estimates of the relationship between team diversity and team outcomes. In particular, the effects of task-related and bio-demographic diversity at the group-level were meta-analyzed to test the hypothesis of synergistic performance resulting from diverse employee teams. Support was found for the positive impact of task-related diversity on team performance although bio-demographic diversity was not significantly related to team performance. Similarly, no discernible effect of team diversity was found on social integration. The implications of the review for future research and practices are also discussed.
ISSN:0149-2063
1557-1211
DOI:10.1177/0149206307308587