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Diversity, Discrimination, and Performance

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  • Leonard, Jonathan
  • Levine, David I.

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. Although age diversity does predict lower sales, diversity of race or gender within the workplace does not significantly or substantially affect sales or sales growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Leonard, Jonathan & Levine, David I., 2006. "Diversity, Discrimination, and Performance," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt2p3880ms, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:indrel:qt2p3880ms
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    Cited by:

    1. Ben-Ner, Avner & McCall, Brian P. & Stephane, Massoud & Wang, Hua, 2009. "Identity and in-group/out-group differentiation in work and giving behaviors: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 153-170, October.
    2. Laetitia Challe & Fabrice Gilles & Yannick L'Horty & Ferhat Mihoubi, 2021. "Gender and age diversity. Does it matter for firms’ productivity?," Erudite Working Paper 2021-10, Erudite.
    3. Gary Charness & Marie-Claire Villeval, 2009. "Cooperation and Competition in Intergenerational Experiments in the Field and the Laboratory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 956-978, June.
    4. Darwin Joseph R. & Palanisamy Chinnathambi Selvaraj, 2015. "The Effects of Work Force Diversity on Employee Performance in Singapore Organisations," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 6(2), pages 17-29, March.
    5. Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Pozzoli, Dario & Pytlikova, Mariola, 2010. "Does Labor Diversity Affect Firm Productivity?," Working Papers 10-12, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics.
    6. Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Pozzoli, Dario & Pytlikova, Mariola, 2014. "Labor diversity and firm productivity," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 144-179.
    7. Alex Bryson & John Forth & Helen Gray & Lucy Stokes, 2020. "Does Employing Older Workers Affect Workplace Performance?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 532-562, October.
    8. Marino, Marianna & Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Pozzoli, Dario, 2016. "Educational diversity and knowledge transfers via inter-firm labor mobility," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 168-183.
    9. Sander Hoogendoorn & Mirjam van Praag, 2012. "Ethnic Diversity and Team Performance: A Field Experiment," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 12-068/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 01 May 2014.
    10. María Isabel Delgado-Piña & Óscar Rodríguez-Ruiz & Antonio Rodríguez-Duarte & Miguel Ángel Sastre-Castillo, 2020. "Gender Diversity in Spanish Banks: Trickle-Down and Productivity Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-18, March.
    11. Ying Zhang & Sriram Narayanan & Tharo Soun & Kalyanmoy Deb & Dustin Cole, 2023. "Maximizing disability diversity, language diversity, and productivity: A study in apparel manufacturing," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(12), pages 3783-3800, December.

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