The environmental determinants of diversity management: Competition, collaboration and clients

Abstract

Diversity management has received considerable attention in public management research. Most existing research, however, analyses the effects rather than the determinants of diversity management. Using panel data on American hospitals from 2008 to 2011, we probe how market competition, inter‐organizational collaboration and clientele diversity affect diversity management adoption. We find that all three environmental factors increase diversity management adoption. Hospitals in competitive markets are more likely to adopt diversity management strategies when they engage in extensive service collaboration and serve a diverse population. Monopolies in less collaborative environments lag behind in adopting diversity management, especially when they serve ethnically homogenous populations. Our findings broaden understandings about what drives diversity management practices and add to the literature on the external contingency of managerial practice.

Diversity Management as a Tool for Sustainable Development of Health Care Facilities

“…As weak points were identified, the diversity as a part of organizational structure and diversity as a part of human resource management, even though multiple studies, are proving the positive impact of implemented organizational diversity on business performance [33,34,44,55]. Organizational culture is being perceived not only as an effect of diversity management, but also as a determinant of its implementation [68]. Diversity management in the field of human resource management is mostly understood as a tool with the aim to prevent discrimination in the context of the antidiscriminative legislation, also as a tool for diversity workforce management based on specific criteria (age, background, culture, nationality, religion, education, social class, etc.…”

Review of Journal of Japanese Studies: Exploring Multidisciplinarity January 2022, Volume 1, Number 1 (Inaugural Issue)

“…So far, scholars have defined diversity as the difference in characteristics among members of a group or organisation (Olsen & Martins, 2012), and such differences can significantly impact group interaction and outcomes ('Di 'Tomaso et al, 2007). However, the major focus of diversity management has been on diversity in demographic characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, gender and age (Olsen & Martins, 2012), with a fundamental concern for the effects (McCrea & Zhu, 2019), namely how to balance between increasing levels of diversity and maintaining/improving company competitiveness (Carstens & De Kock, 2016). Hence, different definitions of diversity management represent different managerial orientations.…”

“…In more recent years, critics have pointed out that most existing diversity management research in general and diversity management research in the hospitality sector analyses the effects rather than the determinants of diversity management (Kalargyrou & Costen, 2017;McCrea & Zhu, 2019). McCrea and Zhu (2019) call for more research on unpacking the drivers of diversity management and probe how the environmental determinants, such as market conditions/competition, inter-organisational collaboration, and clientele diversity, affect diversity management adoption.…”

“…In more recent years, critics have pointed out that most existing diversity management research in general and diversity management research in the hospitality sector analyses the effects rather than the determinants of diversity management (Kalargyrou & Costen, 2017;McCrea & Zhu, 2019). McCrea and Zhu (2019) call for more research on unpacking the drivers of diversity management and probe how the environmental determinants, such as market conditions/competition, inter-organisational collaboration, and clientele diversity, affect diversity management adoption. Using one service sector, namely hospitals, as case studies, the study mentioned above found that hospitals in competitive markets are more likely to adopt diversity management strategies when they engage in extensive service collaboration and serve a diverse population (McCrea & Zhu, 2019).…”

“…So far, research on Japanese diversity management has focused primarily on gender equality and the ageing workforce, given the influence of economic and demographic changes in recent years (Courmadias et al, 2010;Hagiwara, 2015;Kemper et al, 2015;Magoshi & Chang, 2009;McDonald, 2003;, and to a lesser degree on cultural diversity management (Ozbilgin, 2005). In addition, most existing diversity management research analyses the effects rather than the determinants of diversity management (McCrea & Zhu, 2019). Hence, this research focuses on the factors determining whether companies choose to adopt effective cultural diversity management strategies.…”