Getting Specific about Demographic Diversity Variable and Team Performance Relationships: A Meta-Analysis

TLDR

The study revisits the link between demographic diversity and team performance via meta‑analysis, focusing on specific demographic variables rather than broad categories. It integrates separation, variety, and disparity conceptualizations of diversity into hypotheses and contrasts diversity with team‑mean levels on continuous variables when elevated levels are more logically related to performance. Functional background variety shows a small positive effect on overall performance, creativity, and innovation—especially in design and product development teams—while educational background variety benefits top‑management teams, and other variables such as organizational tenure, race, sex, and age show no or negative effects, with team‑mean tenure predicting efficiency.

Abstract

The authors revisited the demographic diversity variable and team performance relationship using meta-analysis and took a significant departure from previous meta-analyses by focusing on specific demographic variables (e.g., functional background, organizational tenure) rather than broad categories (e.g., highly job related, less job related). They integrated different conceptualizations of diversity (i.e., separation, variety, disparity) into the development of their rationale and hypotheses for specific demographic diversity variable—team performance relationships. Furthermore, they contrasted diversity with the team mean on continuous demographic variables when elevated levels of a variable, as opposed to differences, were more logically related to team performance. Functional background variety diversity had a small positive relationship with general team performance as well as with team creativity and innovation. The relationship was strongest for design and product development teams. Educational background variety diversity was related to team creativity and innovation and to team performance for top management teams. Other variables generally thought to increase task-relevant knowledge (e.g., organizational tenure) and team performance were unrelated to team performance, although these variables were almost never studied as the variety conceptualization (i.e., the conceptualization that can reflect the breadth of knowledge that can be applied to the task). Team mean organizational tenure was related to team performance in terms of efficiency. Race and sex variety diversity had small negative relationships with team performance, whereas age diversity was unrelated to team performance regardless of diversity conceptualization. Implications for staffing teams and future research are discussed.