Exploring the impact of diversity climate on individual work role performance: A novel approach

• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Gaëlle Cachat‐Rosset,Alain Klarsfeld,Kévin Carillo
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12483

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Exploring the impact of diversity climate on individual work role

performance: A novel approach

Gaëlle Cachat-Rosset

1

| Alain Klarsfeld

2

| Kévin Carillo

2

1

Laval University, Québec, Canada

2

TBS Business School, Toulouse, France

Correspondence

Gaëlle Cachat-Rosset, Laval University,

Québec, Canada.

Email: gaelle.cachat-rosset@fsa.ulaval.ca

Abstract

While the positive diversity climate-performance relationship has already been

widely studied, still little is known about the mechanisms by which this

relationship operates. Additionally, very few studies using the diversity climate

concept were conducted in Europe, as most diversity climate measures were

designed for the US context. We create a new measurement instrument that is not

US-sensitive, based on a new underlying conceptualization. We use this new

measure to understand the influence of diversity climate on work role

performance in the European context. We test our conceptual model through a

cross-level analysis in a large French organization (N =509; N

unit

=34). We find

that unit-level diversity climate is positively related to work role performance, and

that job satisfaction and affective commitment mediate the diversity climate/work

role performance relationship. This study has strong theoretical and managerial

implications as it highlights the role of diversity climate on performance

behaviors.

KEYWORDS

diversity climate, job satisfaction, multi-level analysis, organizational commitment, work role

performance

INTRODUCTION

Organizational climates are essential components of

work environments. Within the longstanding research

tradition that has striven to demonstrate the positive

association between well-developed HR practices and

organizational performance (Boehm et al., 2014a), ample

theoretical and empirical evidence has been provided to

highlight the importance of the mediating role played by

organizational climates in the HRM–performance link

(Kopelman et al., 1990; Ostroff & Bowen, 2000;

Bowen & Ostroff, 2004). The underlying rationale is that

human resources (HR) management practices in organi-

zations influence the organizational climate perceived by

their members. In turn, organizational climate influences

people performance through its positive effects on cogni-

tive and affective states, such as organizational commit-

ment and job satisfaction.

Organizational climates act as perceptual mediators

through which an organization’s goals can turn into

employees’expected behaviors and performance

(Schneider & Bowen, 1985; Ostroff & Schmitt, 1993).

Among the different climates that employees may

experience in their organizations, which includes the cli-

mates for innovation, service or safety (Griffin &

Neal, 2000; Baer & Frese, 2003; Chrobot-Mason &

Aramovich, 2013), diversity climate has gained increasing

attention in both the academic and practitioners’spheres.

Dwertmann et al. (2016, p.1137) defined diversity climate

as “employees’perceptions about the extent to which

their organization values diversity as evident in the orga-

nization’s formal structure, informal values, and social

integration of underrepresented employees.”This specific

organizational climate has been shown to play a crucial

role in impacting employee performance by moderating

the diversity-performance relationship (Cox &

Blake, 1991; Kossek & Zonia, 1993; Mor Barak

et al., 1998). Scholars have argued that a pro-diversity cli-

mate is essential to benefit from the positive effects of the

increasing diversity of work teams while diminishing its

potential negative consequences (Cox, 1993; Lauring &

Selmer, 2011; Boehm et al., 2014a; Reinwald

et al., 2018). Nonetheless, there is a lack of clarity and

consistency in: both the conceptualization

and operationalization of the diversity climate construct,

the consideration of various levels of analysis and the

DOI: 10.1111/emre.12483

248 © 2021 European Academy of Management. European Management Review. 2022;19:248–262.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/emre