Who promotes a value-in-diversity perspective? A fuzzy set analysis of executives’ individual and organizational characteristics

Anna Katharina Bader, Lena Elisabeth Kemper, Fabian Jintae Froese

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)
20 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Diversity perspectives are philosophies of or approaches to diversity held by organizations, groups, or executives. They are important for organizations because they can determine the success or failure of diversity in the workforce. However, little is known about the predictors of diversity perspectives among executives. Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, we analyzed 50 interviews with top executives in Germany to identify individual and organizational characteristics that predict executives' adoption of a diversity perspective, in particular of a value‐in‐diversity perspective. Specifically, we analyzed gender, age, education level, vocational background, and tenure (individual characteristics), as well as size, sector of organization, and competitive environment (organizational characteristics), as potential predictors. We found single characteristics did not predict adoption, but configurations of characteristics did. Drawing on the person‐situation‐interactionist perspective, we developed specific profiles of executives likely to foster a value‐in‐diversity perspective and identified characteristics of their work environments that support such an approach. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)203-217
Number of pages15
JournalHuman Resource Management
Volume58
Issue number2
Early online date17 Dec 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Germany
  • diversity perspectives
  • fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis
  • top executives
  • workforce diversity

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