Diversity mindsets and the performance of diverse teams

• Published in: Organizational behavior and human decision processes Vol. 121; no. 2; pp. 183 - 193
• Main Authors: van Knippenberg, Daan, van Ginkel, Wendy P., Homan, Astrid C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Elsevier Inc 01.07.2013; Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Inc
• Subjects: Cognition; Cognitive ability; Diversity; Diversity attitudes; Diversity beliefs; Diversity climates; Goals; Group dynamics; Information elaboration; Job performance; Management theory; Mental representation; Moderators; Organizational effectiveness; Organizational goals; Personnel management; Shared cognition; Studies; Team cognition; Team leadership; Team performance; Team reflexivity; Teams; Teamwork; Work environment; Workplace diversity; Information elaboration; Team reflexivity; Team cognition; Diversity beliefs; Team performance; Diversity; Shared cognition; Diversity attitudes; Team leadership; Diversity climates
• ISSN: 0749-5978; 1095-9920
• DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2013.03.003

•Integrates and extends diversity cognition and team cognition research.•Answers question what are cognition and climates favorable to diversity.•Suggests shift in diversity management to development of diversity mindsets. Diversity can enhance as well as disrupt team performance. Diversity beliefs and climates may play an important moderating role in these effects, but it is unclear what form these should take to promote the positive effects of diversity. Addressing this question in an integration of research in team cognition and diversity, we advance the concept of diversity mindsets, defined as team members’ mental representations of team diversity. These mindsets capture diversity-related goals and associated procedural implications for goal achievement. We develop theory about the accuracy, sharedness, and awareness of sharedness of mindsets as moderators of the diversity-performance relationship. We also identify the determinants of these aspects of diversity mindsets. Finally, we discuss the implications of our model for the management of diversity.