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Diversity, discrimination, and performance

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Author Info
Jonathan Leonard (University of California, Berkeley)
David Levine (University of California, Berkeley)

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Abstract

Employee diversity may affect business performance both as a result of customer discrimination and as a result of how members of a group work with each other in teams. We test for both channels with data from more than 800 retail stores employing over 70,000 individuals, matched to Census data on the demographics of the community. We find little payoff to matching employee demographics to those of potential customers except when the customers do not speak English. Diversity of race or gender within the workplace does not predict sales or sales growth, although age diversity predicts low sales.

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File URL: http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=iir
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley in its series Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series with number 1029.

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Date of creation: 10 Jan 2003
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Handle: RePEc:cdl:indrel:1029

Note: oai:cdlib1:iir-1029
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Related research
Keywords: Employee Demographics Race and Gender Organizational Behavior

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Lang, Kevin, 1986. "A Language Theory of Discrimination," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 363-82, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Harry J. Holzer & Keith R. Ihlanfeldt, 1998. "Customer Discrimination And Employment Outcomes For Minority Workers," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(3), pages 835-867, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Gabriel, Paul E & Johnson, Curtis D & Stanton, Timothy J, 1999. "Customer Racial Discrimination for Baseball Memorabilia," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 31(11), pages 1331-35, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Andersen, Torben & La Croix, Sumner J, 1991. "Customer Racial Discrimination in Major League Baseball," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(4), pages 665-77, October.
  5. Eliana Garces & Duncan Thomas & Janet Currie, 2000. "Longer Term Effects of Head Start," NBER Working Papers 8054, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Jonathan S. Leonard & David I. Levine, 2006. "Effect of diversity on turnover: A large case study," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 59(4), pages 547-572, July.
  7. Burdekin, Richard C K & Idson, Todd L, 1991. "Customer Preferences, Attendance and the Racial Structure of Professional Basketball Teams," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 179-86, Part B, J.
  8. Kahn, Lawrence M & Sherer, Peter D, 1988. "Racial Differences in Professional Basketball Players' Compensation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(1), pages 40-61, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Edward P. Lazear, 1998. "Globalization and the Market for Teammates," NBER Working Papers 6579, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Nardinelli, Clark & Simon, Curtis, 1990. "Customer Racial Discrimination in the Market for Memorabilia: The Case of Baseball," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 105(3), pages 575-95, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Lawrence M. Kahn, 1991. "Discrimination in professional sports: A survey of the literature," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 44(3), pages 395-418, April.
  12. Greif, Avner, 1993. "Contract Enforceability and Economic Institutions in Early Trade: the Maghribi Traders' Coalition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 525-48, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Gabriel, Paul E & Johnson, Curtis & Stanton, Timothy J, 1995. "An Examination of Customer Racial Discrimination in the Market for Baseball Memorabilia," Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(2), pages 215-30, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Borjas, George J., 1982. "Labor turnover in the U.S. federal bureaucracy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 187-202, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Judith Hellerstein & David Neumark, 2005. "Using Matched Employer-Employee Data to Study Labor Market Discrimination," IZA Discussion Papers 1555, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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