arbiter
JournalsAccount

The evidence regarding diversity's effect on firm performance

Jonathan Klick

American Business Law Journal2025https://doi.org/10.1111/ablj.12257article
ABDC A
Weight
0.37

Abstract

Regulators, legislatures, and advocacy groups assert that diversity improves decision‐making in groups when pushing firms to change the way they select managers, officers, and directors. Likewise, consulting firms trumpet diversity as a path to better organizational outcomes, citing impressive‐sounding performance differentials between diverse and non‐diverse entities. A review of the empirical literature provides a much more uncertain assessment of the evidence for the “business case” for diversity. This literature is dominated by research designs that do little to isolate causal relationships. This review examines many of the most highly cited articles used to support the proposition that diversity improves decision‐making and performance within groups or firms, focusing on the credibility of the research designs employed.

1 citation

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ablj.12257

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{jonathan2025,
  title        = {{The evidence regarding diversity's effect on firm performance}},
  author       = {Jonathan Klick},
  journal      = {American Business Law Journal},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ablj.12257},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

The evidence regarding diversity's effect on firm performance

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.