Diversity, group performance and social attitudes: Exploring the impact of instrumental pro-diversity beliefs

"With modern organizations and societies becoming increasingly diverse, advocates of diversity often stress the potential instrumentality thereof for group success. Such pro-diversity beliefs (i.e., beliefs in the value of diversity) build on the idea that diversity is beneficial for the successful functioning of groups. Indeed, diversity is often hailed as offering competitive and economic advantages to organizations and societies, a view that in organizational psychology has been described as a business case for diversity: diversity is valued because it is good for business (van Dijk et al. 2012). Many organizations, such as Google, thus now explicitly endorse pro-diversity statements that value diversity as an asset for their organizations; similarly, proponents of diversity at a societal levels also point to the fundamental role of immigrants in driving a country’s success (e.g., Hutton, 2015).
However, such views have been theoretically challenged because they make the value of diversity contingent on its utilitarianism. This holds the risk that outgroup members (i.e., individuals from different, diverse backgrounds) may not be valued, or even be devalued, in situations when diversity is not instrumental, i.e. when there is no (perceived) benefit to the performance of diverse groups.
The proposed research empirically addresses this challenge by studying the relationship between group diversity, performance and social attitudes. Specifically, we aim to test whether the relationship between pro-diversity beliefs and social attitudes is moderated by the instrumentality of diverse groups. The objective of the project is thus to gain a deeper understanding of how organizations and societies can and should manage diversity successfully, to ensure that the benefits of diversity are not only relevant for success at an organizational and societal level (such as increased performance) but also an individual level (such as more positive social attitudes).
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"With modern organizations and societies becoming increasingly diverse, advocates of diversity often stress the potential instrumentality thereof for group success. Such pro-diversity beliefs (i.e., beliefs in the value of diversity) build on the idea that diversity is beneficial for the successful functioning of groups. Indeed, diversity is often hailed as offering competitive and economic advantages to organizations and societies, a view that in organizational psychology has been described as a business case for diversity: diversity is valued because it is good for business (van Dijk et al. 2012). Many organizations, such as Google, thus now explicitly endorse pro-diversity statements that value diversity as an asset for their organizations; similarly, proponents of diversity at a societal levels also point to the fundamental role of immigrants in driving a country’s success (e.g., Hutton, 2015).
However, such views have been theoretically challenged because they make the value of diversity contingent on its utilitarianism. This holds the risk that outgroup members (i.e., individuals from different, diverse backgrounds) may not be valued, or even be devalued, in situations when diversity is not instrumental, i.e. when there is no (perceived) benefit to the performance of diverse groups.
The proposed research empirically addresses this challenge by studying the relationship between group diversity, performance and social attitudes. Specifically, we aim to test whether the relationship between pro-diversity beliefs and social attitudes is moderated by the instrumentality of diverse groups. The objective of the project is thus to gain a deeper understanding of how organizations and societies can and should manage diversity successfully, to ensure that the benefits of diversity are not only relevant for success at an organizational and societal level (such as increased performance) but also an individual level (such as more positive social attitudes).
"