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Diversity, Social Goods Provision, and Performance in the Firm

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  • Sara Fisher Ellison
  • Wallace P. Mullin

Abstract

Economists have studied the effect of diversity on the provision of social goods and the stock of social capital. In parallel, management scholars have studied the effect of diversity in the workplace on firm performance. We integrate these two growing literatures and explore these questions with a unique dataset. A firm provided eight years of individual‐level employee survey data, which include measures of the stock of social capital, plus office‐level measures of diversity and performance. We find some evidence that more gender‐homogeneous offices enjoy higher levels of social goods provision but those offices do not perform any better and may actually perform worse.

Suggested Citation

  • Sara Fisher Ellison & Wallace P. Mullin, 2014. "Diversity, Social Goods Provision, and Performance in the Firm," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 465-481, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:23:y:2014:i:2:p:465-481
    DOI: 10.1111/jems.12051
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    2. Naveed, Amjad & Wang, Cong, 2023. "Innovation and labour productivity growth moderated by structural change: Analysis in a global perspective," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    3. Breda, Thomas & Manning, Alan, 2016. "Diversity and social capital within the workplace:evidence from Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69042, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Owen, Ann L. & Handley-Miner, Isaac, 2015. "Race, Class, Gender, and the Happiness of College Students," MPRA Paper 67078, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Trax, Michaela & Brunow, Stephan & Suedekum, Jens, 2015. "Cultural diversity and plant-level productivity," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 85-96.
    6. Luca Flabbi & Mario Macis & Andrea Moro & Fabiano Schivardi, 2019. "Do Female Executives Make a Difference? The Impact of Female Leadership on Gender Gaps and Firm Performance," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(622), pages 2390-2423.
    7. Anaïs Périlleux & Ariane Szafarz, 2022. "Women in the boardroom: a bottom–up approach to the trickle-down effect," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1783-1800, April.
    8. Pritha Dev & Blessing U. Mberu & Roland Pongou, 2016. "Ethnic Inequality: Theory and Evidence from Formal Education in Nigeria," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(4), pages 603-660.
    9. Huber, Stefanie J. & Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hannah, 2024. "Gender norms and the gender gap in higher education," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    10. Breda, Thomas & Manning, Alan, 2016. "Diversity and social capital within the workplace:evidence from Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69042, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Didia, Lydia N. & Flasher, Renee, 2021. "Beyond the top seven firms: Gender diversity of audit firm partners and their undergraduate accounting faculty," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    12. Christopher Ellis & Jon C. Thompson & Jiabin Wu, 2020. "Labor market characteristics and cultural choice," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(5), pages 1584-1617, September.
    13. Vicente Calabuig & Gonzalo Olcina & Fabrizio Panebianco, 2017. "The dynamics of personal norms and the determinants of cultural homogeneity," Rationality and Society, , vol. 29(3), pages 322-354, August.
    14. Ji‐Hung Choi & Hannah Oh & John Bae & Sang‐Joon Kim, 2021. "Affirmative action and team performance: An agency theoretic perspective," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(5), pages 1183-1193, July.
    15. Breuer, Matthias & Cai, Wei & Le, Anthony & Vetter, Felix, 2024. "Minority representation at work," Working Papers 343, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    16. Gérard Lassibille & Mª Lucia Navarro Gómez, 2020. "Teachers’ job satisfaction and gender imbalance at school," Post-Print halshs-02933493, HAL.
    17. Dalvit, Nicolò & Patel, Aseem & Tan, Joanne, 2022. "Intra-firm hierarchies and gender gaps," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    18. Silvio Städter & Andreas Roider & Michael Dowling & Roland Helm, 2022. "Differences in team performance: Gender versus ability," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(4), pages 926-933, July.

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