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The purpose of this paper is to examine how organizational diversity may be associated with immigrants’ quality of coworker relationships. More specifically, this paper examines how immigrants’ perceived deep-level similarity and perceived workplace ethnic diversity may be associated with their quality of coworker relationships.

A final sample of 347 immigrant employees were surveyed. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses.

Immigrants’ quality of coworker relationships is positively associated with their perceived deep-level similarity with other coworkers. In addition, perceived workplace ethnic diversity moderates this relationship such that the relation is stronger as perceived workplace ethnic diversity increases.

The study and analyses are based on cross-sectional and single-source data and cannot determine causality. The study is also restricted to immigrants in the USA.

Findings provide evidence that increased levels of ethnic diversity and deep-level similarity in the workplace may improve immigrants’ quality of relationships, helping them integrate more successfully in organizations. Thus, managers seeking to benefit from diversity should strive for the creation of truly multicultural organizations or workgroups and focus on fostering similarities in deep-level attributes to maximize their potential.

Immigrants are an important asset for organizations, but research about their inclusion in organizations is limited, especially when examining their integration in their workplaces. This study addresses some of these limitations by looking at the effect of diversity in organizations.

Drawing on social capital theory and self‐identification theory, this study aims to examine the associations of two indicators of social capital, personal networks and deep‐level similarity, with team capability measures of team efficacy and team potency. The central focus of the study is to be the hypothesized mediating role of team learning behaviors.

Hypotheses were tested using questionnaire data obtained from 221 teachers working in 33 teams and data were analyzed using multilevel analyses.

Consistent with the hypotheses, the results supported the contention that team learning behaviors mediate the relationship between different types of social capital and team efficacy and team potency. Specifically, it was found that, in highly (deep‐level) similar teams, the level of team learning behaviors is higher than in diverse teams, and this is hardly dependent on the extent of social capital based on personal networks. For diverse teams (i.e. teams scoring low on deep‐level similarity) more social capital based on personal networks translates into more team learning behaviors. Finally, it was found that team learning behaviors mediate the influence of social capital on team efficacy and team potency.

The paper's findings suggest that it is important for managers not to focus exclusively on surface level characteristics but instead to attempt to facilitate the development of deep‐level similarity. Organizations can also encourage group social capital by allowing teams to develop a shared history, rather than change membership frequently, and by increasing contact among team members.

The paper examined exchange and identification processes that are important in generating resources to increase the development of team learning behaviors, thereby emphasizing the role of the interpersonal context for understanding how interaction processes between team members shape team learning behaviors and subsequently lead to more team efficacy and team potency.

This paper aims to explore the effect of perceived “self-to-team” deep-level diversity on team’s creative output from a social identity lens’ view.

An experimental study was designed (n = 30 in each experimental condition, namely, homogeneous, heterogeneous and mixed) and vignettes were used to manipulate the experimental conditions. Employees from four Indian organizations participated in the experimental study.

Results indicated that deep-level homogeneous group perceived higher team creative output as compared to the deep-level heterogeneous group. Perceived team creativity climate was found to mediate the effect of team diversity on team’s creative output. Further, it was observed that the quality of perceived creativity climate (positive and negative) moderated the relationship between diversity and team’s creative output.

The diversity–climate–creativity model presented in the paper may help managers to understand how “deep-level” group composition affects a group’s creative performance. The findings of this study may act as a platform for building effective diversity management policies.

The current research has contributed to the limited team diversity and creativity literature. Based on the experimental study, the paper has uniquely investigated team diversity and creativity link along with examining the role of a mediator (creativity climate) and moderator (quality climate) in the relationship. As the study was conducted in Indian settings, the findings were interpreted based on the typical Indian psycho-social characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether surface-level actual similarity interacts with leader-member dyadic communication agreement in predicting group member performance ratings at earlier time periods in a work group’s development. Additionally, this research examines whether deep-level perceived similarity interacts with leader-member dyadic communication agreement in predicting group member performance ratings at later time periods in a work group’s development. The relationship between shared cultural context and perceived and actual similarity is also investigated.

This research analyzes longitudinal data from the study questionnaires at five occasions in a Malaysian organization.

Results based on a sample of 28 group projects and 141 matching dyad who completed the study questionnaires at 5 occasions reveal that there is no interaction between workgroup relational ethnicity and workgroup relational gender with leader-member dyadic agreement at early time periods in a workgroup’s development. Therefore, H1 is not supported. H2 posited that deep-level perceived similarity will interact with leader-member dyadic communication agreement in predicting group member performance ratings at later time periods in a workgroup’s development. H2 is supported. Results reveal that the interaction between leader-member dyadic communication agreement and perceived similarity explains 36 percent of the variance of perceived group members’ performance ratings. This is after accounting for the control variable and the independent variables. From a cultural standpoint, the findings in this study underscore that conversations based on the Malaysian cultural norm of “budi” reflect not only a cultural basis of communication, but also that this shared cultural context leads to perceived similarity between ethnic Malay, Chinese, and Indians, and also both genders in the Malaysian workplace.

Leader-member dyadic communication agreement reflects the social appropriateness and relationship quality between individuals, as well as the context of the leader-member workgroup interactions. The findings of this study underscore the premise that conversations reflect not only a cultural basis of communication, but also that shared cultural context leads to perceived similarity. This study specifically examines the role of ethnicity in Malaysia organizational workgroup (e.g. ethnic Malay, Chinese Malay, and Indian Malay) as well as gender.

This study systematically examines the influence of actual and perceived similarity in leader-member dyadic communication from a longitudinal and multilevel standpoint.

The purpose of this qualitative review paper is to identify for practitioners ways of matching mentors and protégés to enhance the effectiveness of formal mentoring programs.

The paper qualitatively reviews the best available evidence of ways to match mentors and protégés to maximize mentorship outcomes.

Two factors to consider when making mentor–protégé matches emerged from the research literature (1) the matching process (i.e., how matches are made and facilitated by practitioners such as incorporating participant input on matches): and (2) individual characteristics (i.e., individual differences that may serve as matching criteria such as experiential, surface-level, and deep-level characteristics). This qualitative review resulted in three practical recommendations to practitioners interested in matching mentors and protégés using evidence-based methods: (1) match based on deep-level similarities, (2) consider developmental-needs of protégés during matching, and (3) seek mentors' and protégés’ input before finalizing matches.

Limitations of the research reviewed are highlighted: measures of perceived similarity, relative effectiveness of matching-related factors, limited research investigating the role of dissimilarity on mentoring outcomes, and linear relationship assumptions between matching-related factors and mentoring outcomes.

The authors’ recommendations suggested greater use of valid psychometric assessments to facilitate matching based on actual assessed data rather than program administrators' personal knowledge of mentors and protégés.

The literature on mentor–protégé matching is missing practical guidance on how to apply the research. This highlights a need for a qualitative review of the literature to identify what matching processes and criteria are most effective, providing a “one-stop-shop” for practitioners seeking advice on how to construct effective mentor–protégé matches in formal mentorship programs.

This study explores how status, demographic and positional, moderates the negative effect of deep-level dissimilarity on leader–member exchange (LMX) quality.

Data from three samples were analyzed using hierarchical linear regression and linear mixed-effects methods.

Results suggest that the negative effect of deep-level dissimilarity (perceived work-related attitude and perspective differences) on LMX quality is stronger when the LMX partner has low demographic status (e.g. the LMX partner is an African-American woman). This moderating effect was not significant when deep-level dissimilarity was extended to include differences in personality, interests and values. Results were mixed on whether low positional status (i.e. when the LMX partner is a member rather than a leader) strengthens the negative effect of deep-level dissimilarity on LMX quality.

This study may help leaders, organizational members and diversity managers better manage attitude and perspective dissimilarity in leader–member dyads.

This study expands research exploring interactive effects of dissimilarity and status on work-related outcomes. It is novel in that it explores status not in relative terms but at the societal level. It is also the first study to analyze the moderating effects of two types of status: demographic and positional.

The diversity literature has yet to investigate relationships between diversity and leader–member exchanges (LMX) at multiple levels of analysis. The purpose of this paper is to test a multilevel model of nationality diversity and LMX. In doing so, the authors investigate the role of surface- and deep-level diversity as related to leader–member exchange differentiation (LMXD) and relative LMX (RLMX), and hence to subordinate job performance.

The authors test a multilevel model of diversity and LMX using multisource survey data from subordinates nesting within supervisors. The authors do so in a context where diversity in nationality is pervasive and plays a key role in LMXs, i.e., a multinational organization in Dubai. The authors tested the cross-level moderated model using MPlus.

The results suggest surface-level similarity is more important to RLMX than deep-level similarity. The relationship between surface-level similarity and RLMX is moderated by workgroup nationality diversity. When workgroups are more diverse, there is a positive relationship between dyadic nationality similarity and RLMX; when workgroups are less diverse, similarity in nationality matters less. Moreover, LMXD at the workgroup level moderates the relationship between RLMX and performance at the individual level.

This study is one of very few to examine both diversity and LMX at multiple levels of analysis. This is the first study to test the workgroup diversity as a cross-level moderator of the relationship between deep-level similarity and LMX. The results challenge the prevailing notion that that deep-level similarity is more strongly related to LMX than surface-level diversity.

This study's purpose is to investigate the antecedents of an employee's remedy‐seeking behavioral intentions in response to wrongful dismissal.

Hypotheses generated by two paradigms are tested, the similarity‐attraction and the similarity‐betrayal paradigms, using Tobit regression and data from a scenario‐based survey of employees.

Consistent with the similarity‐attraction paradigm, the management team's racial and deep‐level similarity to the employee both were negatively related to the employee's propensity to consult a lawyer. Consistent with the similarity‐betrayal paradigm, the employee's propensity to consult a lawyer increased with the supervisor's deep‐level similarity to the employee; among men, the propensity to complain to regulatory agencies increased with the management team's gender similarity and the propensity to not seek a remedy declined with the supervisor's gender similarity.

Limitations of the study include the use a single‐source, cross‐sectional, convenience sample; the small size and heterogeneity of the non‐white sub‐sample; and the limited number of control variables. Future research should explore whether the findings are robust when tested using alternative types of data; alternative wrongful dismissal scenarios; a more extensive set of controls for organizational, job, and personal characteristics; and larger, more diverse sub‐samples of non‐whites.

Organizations should manage dismissals in a manner that encourages employees to favor internal remedy‐seeking over external remedy‐seeking options.

This study is the first to investigate the antecedents of a wrongfully dismissed employee's propensity to engage in internal as well as external remedy‐seeking and to explore the effects of management's similarity to the employee on the employee's remedy‐seeking actions.

The purpose of this study is to understand the conditions in which subordinates, after making a mistake, are more likely to engage in feedback avoidance behaviour (FAB), a set of behaviours that could ultimately jeopardise patient safety in a health care context.

This study used a sample of 183 independent leader-subordinate dyads in the health care service sector. For this study, a multiple mediator model in which three types of conflict (task conflict, relationship conflict and process conflict) were tested and acted as mediating mechanisms that transmitted the effects of perceived dissimilarity to FAB.

The results supported the mediating role of two of the three forms of conflict and highlighted the consequences of dissimilarity between supervisors and subordinates in the healthcare setting.

One of the noteworthy limitations of this study was that this study used cross-sectional time-lagged data. Future research should use a more rigorous longitudinal approach such as a cross-lagged design (Whitman et al., 2012) to explore the dynamic nature of dyadic relationships over time.

An important implication of our study results suggests that health care leadership development training should provide opportunities to increase awareness of the tendency of leaders to treat subordinates perceived as dissimilar more negatively.

These results contribute to our understanding of the interpersonal processes between subordinates and their supervisors, which could have a significant impact on organisational outcomes in the health care setting.

We examine the relationships between clients’ level of coaching readiness and trust in their executive coach and increases to both personal learning improved work performance. Distance relationships, the setting for this study, epitomize the norms of the New World of Work (NWoW), but also provide particular challenges for building trust and recognizing similarities between client and coach.

This study investigates distance coaching relationships in matched-pairs, longitudinal investigation of formal executive coaching.

Results support the proposed moderated mediation path. Findings reveal that both coaches’ perceptions of client readiness for coaching and client trust in coach each predict both client personal skill development and performance improvement.

While important toward gaining a better understanding of the relational functioning of distance coaching relationships, inclusion of only distance relationships may truncate the generalizability of our findings.

The study’s findings have practical implications for organizations that invest in executive coaching with regard to the importance of evaluating the candidates' readiness for coaching before the assignment, trust-building throughout distance coaching relationships and perceptions of similarity on client coaching outcomes.

Distance relationships, the setting for this study, provide particular challenges for building trust and recognizing similarities between client and coach and the current investigation points to the relevance of these relational mechanisms to client outcomes. In so doing, this study explores how perceptions of deep-level similarity between a coach and client may serve as moderators of these relationships.