This paper presents two studies that examine the commonly held belief that corporate boards are more likely to have positive eects on organizational performance when composed of outside directors. The ®rst study ± a meta-analysis of 63 correlations ± indicates that, on average, the greater presence of outsiders is associated with higher performance, but so too is the greater presence of insiders. Instead of providing evidence of a positive outsider eect, these results suggest the existence of a curvilinear homogeneity eect in which performance is enhanced by the greater relative presence of either inside or outside directors. The second study ± a hierarchical polynomial regression analysis of data from 259 large US companies ± con®rms the existence of a curvilinear relationship between insider/ outsider composition and performance measured as return on assets.
In a laboratory experiment, we investigated the impact of procedural explanations and demographic group membership on dependent measures of diversity program support. Our analysis took one important perspective: the examination of work‐force‐diversity programs from the perspective of multiple beneficiary (i. e., targeted) demographic groups. The experiment's design used 99 student volunteers in a 3 × 3 (Explanation × Demographic Group) factorial design. Our findings reveal that both adequate explanation and demographic group membership have a significant impact on how potential work‐forcediversity program beneficiaries expect their coworkers to perceive them. In addition, group membership was a significant predictor of potential beneficiaries' attitudes toward the diversity program and their self‐perceptions of competence. Finally, we discuss implications for future research and diversity practice.
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