New Study on Diversity "Faultlines"

15 December 2021

The results of a current research project by the Chair of Leadership & Organizational Behavior have been published in the Journal of Management Studies.

The study by Prof. Hüttermann and colleagues from Switzerland and the USA analyzes the effects of so-called diversity-related "faultlines" in companies: Such faultlines can always arise when employees systematically differ along multiple diversity characteristics. This can be, for example, the case when the younger employees in a company tend to be female while more senior employees are male.

The results of a study of over 5,000 employees in 82 German companies show that such demographic faultlines can have both positive and negative effects on the performance and innovativeness of companies. A critical success factor for the positive effects of faultlines is the distribution of demographic groups in the company, as it can reduce "silo thinking" by organizational units.

The complete study is available here.