Group-level Diversity and Performance: An Exploration of Mediators

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This study examines the inter-relationship between diversity (demographic and information), cohesion (social and task) and performance at the group level. Data were collected from 99 work teams in an electronic equipment manufacturing firm in Korea. Based on social categorization and information/decision-making perspectives, this study proposes that group cohesion mediates the relationship between work group diversity and group performance. Given various dimensions of diversity, this paper focuses on age composition for demographic diversity and organizational tenure as a criterion for information diversity. It is hypothesized that social (interpersonal) cohesion mediates the relationship between demographic (i.e., age) diversity and group performance, and that task cohesion functions as a mediator between information (i.e., organizational tenure) diversity and group performance. In the first stage of analysis of the relationship between group diversity and cohesion, it was found that age diversity is negatively associated with social cohesion, but organizational tenure diversity is positively related to task cohesion. Diverse age composition in the workgroup weakens social cohesion. On the other hand, organizational tenure diversity enhances task-related group cohesion. Greater information diversity with respect to diverse organizational tenure produces more elaboration and expansion of task-relevant information because members are more likely to possess multiple concerns and agendas and to hold more comprehensive knowledge that will enable them to locate the best solutions for the team task. This result has interesting implications for research into the effects of demographic and information diversity on performance at the group level. In the second stage relating to mediation, the results show that task cohesion positively transmits the effect of information diversity to group performance. However, social cohesion no longer functions as a mediator between demographic diversity and group performance. The present study contributes to the literature on both diversity and group cohesion. On the issue of diversity, both demographic and information diversity constitute a valuable source of variability in organizations. Social and task group cohesion increase the benefits of team diversity by fostering enlarged pools of ideas and perspectives. Task group cohesion also ensures that information disparities among team members do not to lead to harmful effects of diversity as long as optimal team composition is properly managed. This study extends and enhances explanations of how diversity and group cohesion matter in teams. Social and task group cohesion are necessary components of a more complete picture of how diversity influences group performance. The results reflect the fact that the substantive effect of diversity is transmitted through group cohesion. Based on the findings and discussion presented in the present study, practical implications are provided to the organizations seeking to cope with an increasingly diverse workforce at the same time attaining high performance. In this study, an integrative model is tested incorporating the influences of work team diversity and cohesion to reveal and examine inconsistencies found in the extant literature on diversity. Hopefully, the results of this study may constitute the basis for expanding the body of knowledge concerning multifaceted relationships between diversity, cohesion and performance.