The Value of Diversity: On the Positive and Negative Outcomes of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace

During the last decades, employers and policy makers increasingly advocate the value-of-diversity. They assume diversity has beneficial outcomes; for example, gaining better access to underexplored groups of potential employees and clients, or increasing team creativity and innovation. In practice however, there is only little and even contradictory evidence regarding the positive outcomes of diversity. In the current study, we examined cultural diversity outcomes in four large business organizations in the Netherlands as perceived by employees and members of the board (N = 115) at three levels: the individual, team, and organizational level. In qualitative interviews, we collected participants’ spontaneous reflections of dimensions of positive and negative value as well as their responses to value dimensions obtained from a literature review. Our study resulted in a value classification including 22 (positive and negative) diversity outcomes, as well as their operationalizations. Subsequently, the validity of this classification was further established in a survey study among employees of three divisions of each participating organization. A better insight in the positive and negative outcomes of cultural diversity is useful, as it provides organizations the ability to base their diversity policy on clear and measurable goals. This in turn, is expected to lead to better outcomes of diversity practices and increased long-term organizational commitment.