Diverse Workplaces and Interethnic Friendship Formation—A Multilevel Comparison across 21 OECD Countries

Abstract

We study how workplace diversity affects how native-born populations form interethnic friendship relations. Drawing on network elasticity research, the relationship between functional and cognitive interdependencies, and intergroup contact theory, we argue that diverse workplaces—because they restrict individuals' opportunities to act on tendencies towards homophily more than other social units—have a particularly strong potential for integration. We test our argument by analysing data from the first round of the European Social Survey with multilevel modelling. In line with expectations, we find that individuals who work at diverse workplaces are more likely than individuals who work at homogenous workplaces to have immigrant friends; that workplace diversity is more efficacious than neighbourhood diversity in generating interethnic friendship relations; and that the association between workplace diversity and the likelihood of having immigrant friends is stronger among individuals who have a low level of education, feel economically vulnerable, and who live in countries characterized by relative resource scarcity.