Faculty Gender Diversity and University Performance: The Role of Diversity Climate

Abstract

Although employee gender diversity has become an increasingly important objective for many organizations today, empirical research studying the effects of gender diversity at the organizational level on organizational performance has been inconsistent. The current study examines the effects of gender diversity among faculty on the performance of institutions of higher education in both the short and longer-term. Further, we assess whether diversity climate moderates this relationship. Based on a sample of 285 colleges and universities in the United States, we find that gender diversity has an overall negative effect on organizational performance (e.g., graduation rates, retention rates, equity ratio, return on investment). However, this negative effect is significantly reduced in magnitude under conditions of a positive compared to a negative organizational diversity climate. These effects are similar in the short and longer-term for all of the outcome measures studied. These results contrast with some existing research on organizational gender diversity, suggesting the importance of studying a wider variety of organization types and measures of organizational performance.