Defying conventional wisdom: A meta-analytical examination of the differences between demographic and job-related diversity relationships with performance

• Published in: Organizational behavior and human decision processes 2012-09, Vol.119 (1), p.38-53
• Main Authors: van Dijk, Hans, van Engen, Marloes L., van Knippenberg, Daan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bias; Biological and medical sciences; Demographic change; Evaluation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human performance; Innovation; Job performance; Knowledge; Meta-analysis; Occupational psychology; Organization theory; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Studies; Systematic review; Work condition. Job performance. Stress; Work group diversity; Workplace diversity
• ISSN: 0749-5978; 1095-9920
• DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.06.003

► We meta-analytically contrast demographic and job-related diversity. ► We show that rater biases impact the diversity–performance relationship. ► We find that task complexity moderates the influence of job-related diversity. Conventional wisdom in the diversity literature holds that job-related dimensions of diversity are the domain of positive performance, whereas demographic dimensions of diversity are the domain of negative performance effects. In a meta-analysis (N=146 studies, 612 effect sizes), we show that this conclusion may be based on rater biases; it does not apply to studies involving more objective assessments of performance, assessments that cannot be influenced by knowledge of a team’s composition. We also show that the influence of job-related diversity is moderated by task complexity and that job-related diversity is more positively related to innovative performance than to in-role performance. We discuss how these results invite a reconsideration of the role of the job-related/demographic diversity distinction and provide suggestions on how to further advance our understanding of diversity’s effects.