Effect of Workplace Diversity Practices on Organizational Performance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53819/81018102t5432Abstract
Publicly quoted companies in Kenya face persistent underperformance despite Capital Markets Authority requirements for qualified senior management to be in place to ensure sustainable performance. Hence, this study examined the effect of workplace internal, external and organizational diversity practices on organizational performance. The study was guided by social identity theory, intersectionality theory and the balanced scorecard model within a pragmatic philosophy. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was employed. The target population comprised 150 senior management respondents representing 56 operational publicly quoted companies on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. A census approach selected three senior management respondents from human resource, strategy, and finance functions in each company. Data collection involved structured questionnaires on a five-point Likert scale, with ethical clearance obtained. Pretesting confirmed validity (factor loadings >0.4) and reliability (Cronbach's alpha >0.7). Quantitative analysis used SPSS version 30 with descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis. The study findings revealed that internal diversity practices had a positive significant effect on organizational performance, external diversity practices similarly had a positive significant effect, and organizational diversity practices recorded the strongest positive effect. The combined model explained a substantial proportion of variance in organizational performance. The study concludes that workplace diversity practices significantly enhance organizational performance and recommends that publicly quoted companies implement comprehensive diversity strategies integrating gender, ethnic, educational, experiential, role, and hierarchical dimensions for sustained competitive advantage.
Keywords: Workplace diversity practices, internal diversity, external diversity, organizational diversity, organizational performance, publicly quoted companies, Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya
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