Diversity and individual careers

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The project will analyze the effects of diversity on individual careers of organization members. The focus is on context effects of diversity on individual careers as well as on the significance of the relative position of individuals in the social structure of organizations. Diversity is conceived as multidimensional construct having regard to demographic and functional characteristics like gender, age, tenure, ethnicity, education and qualification. More precisely, we will deal with the question whether a heterogeneous workforce and the relative position of individuals within organizational demography affect individual labor market success. Main indicators of individual careers are (1) the individual probability of leaving an organization and (2) the wage. The theoretical framework consists on the one hand of theories like diversity approaches and organizational resource theory which are discussed in the economic literature as well. On the other hand, social psychological approaches like similarity attraction theory, the theory of social categorization and the approach of co-worker discriminiation are applied. Data are taken from the Integrated Employment Biographies (IEB) of the Institute of Employment Research (IAB). These data allow comprehensive analyses of individual career trajectories. Additionally, data from the project Diversity and Success of Organizations that is granted by the DFG in 2011-2012 supplement these biographical information by information on the organizational and regional context.