Is university internationalization bad for performance? Examining two different types of diversity

While most studies on diverse organizations have been directed at business organizations, the academic sector has also become increasingly international and heterogeneous. Few large-scale studies have investigated multicultural academic departments and none of those have dealt with diversity and group processes. Therefore, a survey was directed towards academics in 16 science departments in three large universities in Denmark. Results based on the response from 489 academics showed that cultural diversity, as a deep level heterogeneity, was positively related to performance and satisfaction, whereas gender diversity, as a surface level heterogeneity, was negatively associated with satisfaction. Implications of these findings are discussed in detail.

Research highlights► We studied diversity and group processes in multicultural academic departments. ► Cultural diversity was positively related to performance and satisfaction. ► Gender diversity was negatively associated with satisfaction. ► Lacking similar studies, the findings may have important implications.