Who Values Diversity? Comparing the Effect of Manager Gender Across the Public, Private, and Nonprofit Sectors

Abstract

Researchers have focused on the role of managerial gender on attitudes toward diversity issues mainly in either the public or private sector, but there is little research that compares managerial attitudes on diversity across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. This article identifies important distinctions among the sectors that may influence gender differences in managerial priority placed on diversity. Using a national survey of nearly 1,000 top-level managers in public, private, and nonprofit hospitals in the United States, we analyze how managerial gender combined with cross-sector differences shape managerial priority on diversity. We find female managers place a higher priority on diversity than their male counterparts in nonprofit and private organizations compared with managers in public organizations. The differing effects of managerial gender on the priority placed on diversity are shaped by the organizational contexts of the three sectors. This research provides systematic evidence of sector differences in the patterns of managerial priorities regarding diversity.

Who promotes a value‐in‐diversity perspective? A fuzzy set analysis of executives’ individual and organizational characteristics

“…Taken together, prior research has identified various individual and organizational characteristics that may predict diversity perspectives. However, given the inconsistency of prior findings and initial evidence of interaction effects associated with diversity‐related outcomes (Johansen & Zhu, ; Mor Barak et al, ), we argue that considering combinations of characteristics may yield a more accurate picture than investigating single characteristics. More specifically, we are interested in the complex interplay of configurations of individual and organizational characteristics that lead to a value‐in‐diversity perspective.…”

“…On the other hand, the introduction of new public management and the increased focus on efficiency and accountability (Hood, ) may lead to an erosion of the public ethos (Pratchett & Wingfield, ) and the values of equality. This might explain why other research has found that managerial priority on diversity is significantly lower in public and nonprofit organizations than private organizations (Johansen & Zhu, ).…”

“…According to the self‐interest perspective (Bell, Harrison, & McLaughlin, ; Tougas, Beaton, & Veilleux, ), the individuals most likely to support diversity initiatives are those benefiting from them. Accordingly, prior studies have found that female executives place higher priority on diversity and equity practices (Glass & Cook, ; Johansen & Zhu, ) and that females have more positive attitudes toward diversity practices (Konrad & Linnehan, ). By contrast, individuals who are not impacted by diversity practices might develop negative attitudes toward them (Kidder, Lankau, Chrobot‐Mason, Mollica, & Friedman, ).…”

Managing Racial Diversity: Matching Internal Strategies with Environmental Needs

“…Exploring the external factors affecting organizations is in line with recent calls to give greater attention to how external context matters (O'Toole and Meier ). Public management scholars have focused on how the external environment constrains organizations and affects managerial decision‐making in public service organizations (Akkerman and Torenvlied ; Johansen and Zhu ). The dimensions of race and ethnicity are likely environmental sources of complexity that affect managerial decisions because communities with more diverse populations have more heterogeneous demands on public service (Kim ).…”

“…Some studies have used measures of clients' racial diversity as a control variable, finding that they are linked to a higher prevalence of perceived diversity management practices (Johansen and Zhu ; Pitts et al ). For managers, a racially diverse clientele may signal complexity in the environment.…”