Work Group Diversity and Group Performance: An Integrative Model and Research Agenda.

TLDR

Research on the relationship between work group diversity and performance has yielded inconsistent results. The authors propose the categorization‑elaboration model (CEM) and argue that all diversity dimensions can have both positive and negative effects, abandoning attempts to link effects to specific types. The CEM integrates mediator and moderator variables and posits that intergroup biases from social categorization disrupt the elaboration of task‑relevant information, linking information/decision‑making and social categorization processes. The authors discuss how these propositions can shape future research agendas in diversity.

Abstract

Research on the relationship between work group diversity and performance has yielded inconsistent results. To address this problem, the authors propose the categorization-elaboration model (CEM), which reconceptualizes and integrates information/decision making and social categorization perspectives on work-group diversity and performance. The CEM incorporates mediator and moderator variables that typically have been ignored in diversity research and incorporates the view that information/decision making and social categorization processes interact such that intergroup biases flowing from social categorization disrupt the elaboration (in-depth processing) of task-relevant information and perspectives. In addition, the authors propose that attempts to link the positive and negative effects of diversity to specific types of diversity should be abandoned in favor of the assumption that all dimensions of diversity may have positive as well as negative effects. The ways in which these propositions may set the agenda for future research in diversity are discussed.