Abstract

The project aims at investigating the effects of diversity on the performance of organizations. The units of observation in this analysis are firms whereas most previous studies focus on diversity of workgroups or high qualified teams like R&D departments or boards of management. Our analysis applies a multidimensional concept of diversity, i.e. we consider several characteristics of organizations as well as the interaction of different forms of diversity in order to identify mechanisms of cumulative advantages and disadvantages. We examine the impact of staff diversity on different indicators of firm performance. The empirical analyses exploit the Linked-Employer-Employee-Data of the Institute for Employment Research (LIAB) and information on the regional context of the firms. The panel structure of the data set allows deal with the endogeneity of diversity in organizations