Reconstructing the Concept of Diversity Climate – A Critical Review of Its Definition, Dimensions, and Operationalization

Published date01 December 2019
AuthorGaëlle Cachat‐Rosset,Alain Klarsfeld,Kévin Carillo
Date01 December 2019
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12133
Reconstructing the Concept of Diversity
Climate A Critical Review of Its Definition,
Dimensions, and Operationalization
GAËLLE CACHAT-ROSSET,
1
KÉVIN CARILLO
2
and ALAIN KLARSFELD
1
1
Department of CSR and Human Resources, Toulouse Business School, University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France
2
Department of Information, Operations and Management Sciences,Toulouse Business School, University of Toulouse,
Toulouse, France
Over the last 20 years,the notion of diversity climatehas gained popularity as it is purported to play a key role in
maximizing the positive effects of workforce diversity. However, it remains an a-contextual, unclear and unstable
concept relying on a variety of conceptualizations and subsequent operationalizations. We conducted a literature
review to highlight the inconsistencies of diversity climateresearch and as a result the limited validity of its findings.
We then develop a new conceptualization for diversity climate, articulated around three components: intentionality,
programming and praxis, that integrate the different perspectives adopted in diversity climate research. This study
has significant implications for both research and practice, providing a robust reconstruction of the concept. We
ultimately identifyrelevant avenues for future research.
Keywords: diversity; climate; systematic review; critical review; conceptual contribution; reconstruction
Introduction
In the current globalization context, companies are facing
an increasing diversification of their workforce and
customers (Thomas and Ely, 1996). The development of
national, European and international regulations for the
last 15 years, has gradually raised awareness about the
critical importance of non-discrimination in their
practices. A number of organizations, beyond their legal
obligations, have intentionally developed an objectively
diversified workforce, either in response to these growing
institutional pressures or because they have realized the
potential of the business casefor diversity.
However, researchsuggests that diversity outcomesare
not straightforward. For some scholars,objective diversity
allows the innovation development (e.g., Van der Vegt
and Janssen, 2003; Ozgen et al., 2013), creativity and
problem solving (Cox and Blake, 1991; Richard et al.,
2013) and a more diversified clientele (Cox, 1993;
Thomas and Ely 1996; Herring, 2009). For others, it can
be a source of tension, conflict withinteams, interpersonal
difficulties,which tends to ultimately produce eitherno or
even negative effects on organizations (Webber and
Donahue, 2001; Kochan et al., 2003; Joshi and Roh,
2009). In times of economic and financial crisis, such
tensions can be exacerbated.
Considering the outcomes of objectively measurable
workforce diversity, scholars have emphasized the critical
role played by moderators to reap the full benefit from
workforce diversity (Ng and Stephenson, 2015). Diversity
climate is a key moderator of the diversity-performance
relationship (Cox and Blake, 1991; Kossek and Zonia,
1993; Cox, 1993;Mor Barak et al., 1998). The underlying
logic is that benefits accruing from objective diversity are
maximized when individuals perceive a pro-diversity
climate in their organization (Cox, 1993). When there is
no such perception, the benefits that might have been
derived from workforce diversity are simply lost.
The importance of climate perception is recognized in
other research fields such as education and psychology
which both consider the [notion of] climate as a
subjective reality which relates to psychological
perceptions of the actors themselves(Bennacer, 2005).
Classroom climate perception has been proven to have a
greater impact on studentsacademic performance than
objective classroom variables (Greene et al., 2004). In
work environments,the theory of high performance work
Correspondence: Alain Klarsfeld, Department of CSR and Human
Resources, Toulouse Business School, 20 boulevard Lascrosses, 31068
Toulouse,France.Tel:+33(0)665366274E-maila.klarsfeld@tbs-
education.fr
DOI: 10.1111/emre.12133
©2017 European Academy of Management
European Management Review, Vol. 16, , (2019)
863 885
system (HPWS) suggests that objective human resources
management (HRM) practices do not directly impactfirm
performance but rather encourage the set-up of (by
definition subjective) organizational climates which in
turn lead to better performance (Bowen and Ostroff,
2004; Collins and Smith, 2006). This underlines the
critical importance of climate perceptions in fostering
organizationaland individual performance,independently
of objective work settings and contexts.
Unfortunately, 20 years of diversity climate research
have given birth to a wealth of inconsistent conceptual
definitions and a variety of incompatible operationa-
lizations, while too little attention has been paid to the
validity of the developed measures. In their recent
literature review, Dwertmann et al.(2016:1136)
emphasized that imprecisions in the diversity climate
construct have hindered the advancement of diversity
climate research. In the absence of a clear and shared
understanding of what diversity climate is all about,
scholars are bound to provide misleading guidance to
companies that have engaged the path of fostering and
maintaining a pro-diversity climate (McKay and Avery,
2015), while failing at contributing to the betterment of
our society.
Indeed, in the context of the recent economic and
refugee crises, establishing a robust diversity climate
concept has become a particular crucial issue. At the
societal or political discourse level, for instance, recent
events testify of a globally deteriorating diversity climate
in Western andnon-Western nations, with thedismantling
of some past achievements regarding equality and
diversity. Brexitin the UK, the election of Donald Trump
in the USA, the rise of Marine Le Pen in France, the
Alternative für Deutschland party in Germany and the
Bharatiya Janata Party in India, are all testaments of a
growing hostility towards subpopulations such as
migrants (in UK) or people from different origins or
religions (in the USA, France, Germany and India). A
counterexample of this is Canada, which has consistently
and successfully introduced multi-culturalism and
migration-friendly policies since the 1970s (Haq and Ng,
2010). It seems that ignorance and fear, accentuated by
the ongoing economic and financial crisis, is a fertile
ground for discrimination and for new prejudices to arise
and spread. How does this societal deterioration of
diversity climate translate into diversity climate at the
organizational level? As the key players of economic
societies, do organizations tend to follow the political
discourse of rising extremists and regressive measures,
contributing to the degradation of diversity climate?
How does the evolution of diversity climate impact
organizational and employee performance? Without a
well-defined and robust concept, such important
questions cannot be properly addressed and thus
answered.
In this paper, we therefore strive to move the diversity
climate debate forward by conducting an introspective
investigation of the diversity climate body of knowledge
and reaching beyond the issue of the ambiguity between
the fairness and discriminationand the synergy
perspectives of the diversity climate construct
(Dwertmann et al.,2016). This paper also pushes forward
the question of the distinction between individual-level
and aggregate-level, an issue that has been quite salient
for diversity climate research (McKay and Avery, 2015).
Consequently, the ultimate purpose of this paper is not
to merely review the current wisdom on diversity climate
in organizations, but rather to critically address the main
ambiguities and inconsistencies in diversity climate
research and to develop a robust and encompassing
conceptualization of the diversity climate construct.
After a theoretical review, we provide a systematic
investigation of the construct definitions and dimensions
(details of which are provided in Appendices 1 and 2).
Then, the levels of analysis, theoretical frameworks, the
associated diversity climate subjects/objects, as well as
the different measurement scales having been used are
meticulously analyzed. The paper specifically highlights
the most criticalgaps and issues in the use of the diversity
climate construct. Finally, based on the results of the
constructsdeconstruction, we introduce a novel and
encompassing view of diversity climate and provide
conceptual and empirical guidelines for future research.
Theoretical background
The diversity climate construct originated from the
groundbreaking work of Cox (1993), who developed a
conceptualization for diversity climate embedded into
his interactional model of cultural diversity (IMCD)
model, along with the work of Kossek and Zonia (1993)
who empiricallytested the effects of a climatefor diversity
on attitudes and beliefs. The IMCD model assumes that
the type and form of diversity in a given social system
combine with characteristics of the diversity climate that
pertain to that system, and impact an array of various
individual, organizational, and even societal outcomes
(Cox, 1993). Subsequent research on diversity climate
has dedicated a substantial amount of attention to
empirically investigate some of the IMCD models
relationships (e.g., Hicks-Clarke and Isles, 2000; McKay
et al., 2008; Buttner et al., 2010), while others have
developed model extensions (Bell, 2011). Nonetheless,
even after 25 years of intense research efforts, only a
modest subset of the IMCD relations have actually been
validated (McKay and Avery, 2015).
Furthermore, a growing stream of research has focused
on demonstrating the positive effects of a pro-diversity
climate. At the individual level, it was found to impact
G. Cachat-Rosset et al.
©2017 European Academy of Management
864

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