Workforce diversity is discussed and analyzed in most of the organizations in this rapidly changing global environment. Work force diversity means similarities and differences among employees in terms of age, cultural background, physical abilities and disabilities, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation etc. Diversity makes the work force heterogeneous. Organizations nowadays are becoming more heterogeneous with the mix of people in terms of gender, age, race, and education background, experience, culture and the like. In this context, it is essential that managements of any organization should analyze the factors of diversity that affect their employees’ performance so as to improve productivity and efficiency of workforce. This calls for setting and applying polices to ensure that this diversity could be managed effectively to contribute towards organizational success. This study is aimed at investigating the effects of workforce diversity on employee performance in Nizwa College of Technology, a selected higher educational institution in Oman by considering the effects of age diversity, gender diversity, and educational diversity on employee performance.

Factors affecting Diversity

Diversity therefore consists of visible and nonvisible factors, which include personal characteristics such as background, culture, personality and work-style in addition to the characteristics that are protected under discrimination legislation in terms of race, disability, gender, religion and belief, sexual orientation and age. Other factors affecting diversity are numerous such as national origin, region, politics, disability, socio economic differences, family structure, health, values etc.

Statement of the Problem

The study is aimed at investigating the effects of workforce diversity on employee performance in Nizwa College of Technology, a higher educational institution in Sultanate of Oman. The institution has a diverse workforce. The effect of workforce diversity on employee performance is investigated by considering the effects of independent variables age diversity, gender diversity, work experience diversity and educational diversity on dependent variable employee performance.

Significance of the Study

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of workforce diversity on employee performance. The study would be useful in providing suggestions to improve the effectiveness of workforce diversity towards employee performance. This study will add to the already existing literature on diversity and it will help educational institutions, other organizations, employees, government and the society as a whole to fully understand diversity issues, how to manage it and how to reap the benefits. Furthermore, it creates awareness in higher educational institutions on the benefits of having a proper shape of workforce diversity, thus steering up an employee and organizational performance.

Objectives of the Study

• To determine whether there is a relationship between gender diversity, age diversity and employee performance

• To determine whether there is a relationship between work experience diversity, education diversity and employee performance

• To determine which independent variable between gender diversity, age diversity, experience diversity and education diversity has more influence on employee performance

Research Hypothesis 

In this study, gender diversity, age diversity, experience diversity and educational diversity are the independent variables while employee performance is the dependent variable. Therefore, the study hypothesis is that there is a relationship between the independent variables and dependent variable. The hypotheses are stated below:

• H1: There is a relationship between gender diversity and employee performance 

• H2: There is a relationship between age diversity and employee performance

• H3: There is a relationship between experience diversity and employee performance

• H4: There is a relationship between educational diversity and employee performance 

• H5: The four variables (gender diversity, age diversity, experience diversity, and educational diversity) are significant in explaining the variance in employee performance

Literature Review

Kyalo [1] conducted a study in the banking sector in Kenya, indicating that gender diversity was significantly related to employee performance. He observed that the recruitment strategies in banking sector favour and promote women, hence most of the banks benefit from the varied skills and knowledge of diverse gender teams. Another conducted study by Ngao and Mwangi [2] in the Kenyan Port Authority revealed that gender diversity had a huge positive effect on employee and organisational performance. In support of Kyalo, Ngao and Mwangi [2] stated that the main reason for this maybe that females and males think differently thus if their ideas are put together, they lead to better decision making, creativity and innovation and improved employee performance. Selvaraj [3] found gender diversity positively related to employee performance. Gender diversity was found to be positively affecting employee performance even though it was not an area of concern in the organisation [3]. A study conducted by Kyalo [1] in the banking sector in Kenya revealed that age diversity was not related to employee performance. In the Egyptian pharmaceutical industry, Elsaid [4] found that there was no relationship between age diversity and employee performance. Elsaid [4] further stated that the possible explanation to this was the less noticeable numerical uniqueness between young and old employees as compared to the numerical uniqueness between male and female employees. Educational diversity was positively and significantly related to employee performance. Odhiambo [5] in the Kenyan education sector reported that increasing age diversity was positively related to employee performance. Schools that focus on innovative task benefit more from age diversity as compared to those which focus on routine tasks. Educational diversity was significant in explaining a variation in employee performance. Having more varied educational types in an organisation improves problem solving skills and decision making amongst employees, thus resulting in improved employee performance. Eugene et al. [6] findings show that informational diversity, such as education and functional areas, were positively related to actual work group performances, although the relationship was mediated by task conflict. They established that there is bias in educational diversity measure as it evaluates diversity in employees who are extremely educated and putting employees who are less educated in one group. Good work force diversity practices in the area of human resources are believed to enhance both employee and organizational performance. Employee diversity allows increased creativity, a wider range of perspectives, better problem definition, more alternatives and better solutions. [7]. In an academic context, diversity encompasses different dimensions including origin, race, gender, ethnic group, language, color, attitude, values, beliefs and religion [8]. The adoption of workforce diversity in Higher Educational Institutions and other public institutions, expressly focus on tackling matters of past prejudices and discriminations in the workplace they do not focus on the business need of diversity and how it influences employee behavioraloutcomes such as employee performance [9]. The issue of incorporating diversity in both private and public organisations has been perceived as a matter of legal compliance rather than as a business need [10]. A study conducted by Magoshi and Chang [11] in Kenyan secondary schools found workforce diversity to be a significant factor in explaining a variation in employee performance. They recommended organizations to view workforce diversity as an important asset that adds value over their competitors. Munjuri [12] argued that the identification of the effects of workforce diversity may help organisations to identify and anticipate the barriers and benefits of having a heterogeneous workforce, thus satisfying the business need of diversity. Therefore, this raises the necessity to research on this phenomenon so that Higher Education Institutions can manage and fully comprehend the role of workforce diversity towards organizations. Similar research conducted on workplace diversity suggests that diversity can be either detrimental or beneficial for employee performance [13]. Workforce diversity can positively influence creativity, development, innovation and critical thinking aptitudes [14] while at the same time, it negatively influences cohesiveness, collaboration, cooperation and support [1]. Solomon Ogbonna Abugu and Eno Ebele Jerry [15] stated the importance of diversity for many fields that it contributed to expand the flow of the work over different races and nationality. The work with different races lead to positive result in most of the time. In addition, the workplace which has diversity of people it has more to have multi-talents and experience.

Conceptual Framework

The independent variables in this study are gender, age, education and work experience while the dependent variable is employee performance. The conceptual framework is presented in Figure 1.

All the independent variables that are to be tested in relation to the dependent variable. All these variables are tested for significance to determine the effect of these variables on employee performance, the dependent variable. The data presented in tables are explained in detail on how the independent variables relate to the dependent variable.

Figure 1: Workforce Diversity

Research Gaps

The researchers have identified that previous studies focused only on diversity in business organizations. Hardly any studies have been conducted previously on workforce diversity in higher educational institutions. Furthermore, no studies on workforce diversity are conducted in higher educational institutions in Oman. The effect of workforce diversity factors on employee performance in higher education institution is addressed in this study. Thus, this study addresses these gaps.

Research Methodology

The research is a case study of effect of workforce diversity on employee performance at a chosen higher education institution, Nizwa College of Technology, Sultanate of Oman. The data is collected from a sample of 202 employees from a population of 409 employees teaching and non-teaching staffs. The response rate obtained for primary data collection was 68% consisting of responses from 135 employees. The period of the study is from January 2020 to March 2020. Stratified random sampling technique is employed to divide employees into homogeneous stratums of academic and non-academic employees. A structured questionnaire is used to collect primary data. Workforce Diversity Questionnaire (WDQ) Elsaid [4] was used to measure the perceptions of employees on workforce diversity in a higher education institution. The 27-item questionnaire consists of four subscales which are gender diversity, age diversity, ethnic diversity and educational diversity and it is scored on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly Agree). In this study the ethinic diversity is replaced for work experience diversity. Also an Employee Work Performance Questionnaire (EWPQ) adapted from Bekele, Shigutu and Tensay was used to assess the level of employee performance. The 10-item questionnaire is scored on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly Agree). The total items in the questionnaire is thus 37 items. Google forms are used to distribute the questionnaire to the sample selected for the study. Data analysis is done with the help of SPSS version 21. 

Analysis of the Data 

This section describes the demographic characteristics of the respondents in terms of frequency analysis. Table no.1 displays the gender groups of the respondents. 90 out of 135 respondents (67%) are male respondents, and 33% are female respondents. 38% of respondents have age from 40-50 years and 36% of the respondents are aged between 30-40 years. Only 9% of the respondents are between 20-30 years of age. The educational status of the sample respondents. 60% of the respondents have Master’s Degree and 28% of the respondents are Doctoral degree holders. Only 9% of the respondents have Bachelor’s degree and 3% possess Diploma certificate. The Work Experience (years) of the respondents showed that 29% of respondents have 5-10 years of experience, 28% of respondents have 10-15 years of experience.  9% of the respondents have more than 15 years of experience. 24% of the staff members have work experience of less than 5 years. 

Table 1: Demographic Profile of Employees

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics

Table 3: Correlations

Table: 4 Model Summary

Predictors: (Constant), Education, Age, Gender, Experience

Table 5: ANOVA^a

Dependent Variable: Performance, Predictors: (Constant), Education, Age, Gender, Experience

Table No: 6 Coefficients^a

Dependent Variable: Performance

30% of the respondents are from English Language Center and 27% of the staff are from Engineering. 19% of the staff are from Information Technology and 14% are from Business Department. Only 10% respondents participated in this study from Educational Technologies Center. 87% of the respondents of this study belongs to Academic staff and 13% of the respondents are from Non Academic staff members.

Inferential Analysis 

This section presents the correlation analysis and regression analysis. In order to find the correlation and the impact of age diversity, gender diversity, work experience and education on performance, the mean values of the statements are taken into analysis.

Table no.2 shows the descriptive analysis of gender, age, experience, education (independent variables) and performance (dependent variable). The mean value of dependent variable performance is 4.20 with a standard deviation of 0.59.  The mean value of gender diversity is 3.86, which is the highest with a standard deviation of 0.62. Education diversity has lowest mean value of 3.26 and its standard deviation is 0.56.

Correlation Analysis 

In order to test the hypotheses of this study, correlational analysis is done to determine the relationship between the independent variables (age diversity, gender diversity, experience diversity and educational diversity) and the dependent variable (employee performance).

Hypothesis Testing

• H0: There is no significant relationship between gender diversity and employee performance

• H1: There is significant relationship between gender diversity and employee performance

Based on the results in Table no.3 above, there is a positive relationship between gender diversity and employee performance (r = 0.571). A positive relationship in this scenario means that when gender diversity increases, employee performance also increases. The r-value is 0.571, which means there is a moderate uphill (positive) linear relationship between gender diversity and employee performance.

• H0: There is no significant relationship between age diversity and employee performance

• H2: There is significant relationship between age diversity and employee performance

From table no.3, there is a positive relationship between age diversity and employee performance (r = 0.443). A positive relationship in this scenario means that when age diversity increases, employee performance also increases. The r-value is 0.443, which means there is a moderate uphill (positive) linear relationship between age diversity and employee performance.

• H0: There is no significant relationship between experience diversity and employee performance

• H3: There is significant relationship between experience diversity and employee performance

There is a positive relationship between experience diversity and employee performance (r = 0.437). A positive relationship in this scenario means that when experience diversity increases, employee performance also increases. The r-value is 0.437, which means there is a moderate uphill (positive) linear relationship between experience and employee performance. 

• H0: There is no significant relationship between education diversity and employee performance

• H4: There is significant relationship between education diversity and employee performance

From table no.3, there is a positive relationship between education diversity and employee performance (r = 0.375). A positive relationship in this scenario means that when experience diversity increases, employee performance also increases. However, even though the correlation is positive, the r-value is 0.375, which means there is a weak uphill (positive) linear relationship between education and employee performance. 

Regression Analysis

Regression analysis was performed to determine whether the independent variables (Gender diversity, age diversity, experience diversity and educational diversity) predict the dependent variable (employee performance). In addition, multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine which amongst the four independent variables (gender diversity, age diversity, experience diversity and educational diversity) contribute most to the variation of the dependent variable (employee performance).

Table No 4 shows that the overall correlation of independent variables on employee performance is 0.592. The model summary illustrates the (R square) value, which helps in explaining variance in the dependent variable (employee performance). Based on the results in Table 4, the (R square) value is 0.351. The R square value represents the coefficient of determination. This means that the independent variables (age diversity, gender diversity, ethnic diversity and educational diversity) predict the dependent variable (employee performance) by 35.1%, thus, leaving out 64.9% (100%-35.1%) unexplained. In a nutshell, this means that there are other extra independent variables that were not put into consideration in this study that is significant in explaining variation in employee performance.

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

Hypothesis Testing

• H5: The four variables (gender diversity, age diversity, experience diversity, and educational diversity) are significant in explaining the variance in employee performance

The ANOVA was performed to test the statistical significance of the regression model on whether it is a good descriptor for the relationship between the predictor variables (gender diversity, age diversity, experience diversity and educational diversity) and the dependent variable (employee performance). Therefore, based on the results, the model is a good descriptor of the relationship between independent variables (age diversity, gender diversity, ethnic diversity and educational diversity) and the dependent variable (employee performance) (F = 17.572, p = 0.000). The p-value is less than .05.  Thus, this means that the independent variables (gender diversity, age diversity, experience diversity and educational diversity) are significant in explaining the variation in the dependent variable (employee performance). The ANOVA table, proves that the overall correlation 0.592 is significant. Hence the model is significant.

The coefficients Table no. 6 helped to compare which of the four predictor variables (gender diversity, age diversity, experience diversity and educational diversity) contribute the most to the variation of employee performance. Therefore, to make the comparison, the Beta standardized coefficients were used. The results indicate that gender diversity is the only predictor variable that contributes to the variation of employee performance (β = 0.461, p = 0.000). Age diversity (β = 0.177, p = 0.050), experience diversity (β = 0.048, p = 0.680) and educational diversity are not a significant predictors of employee performance (β = -0.304, p = 0.762). Thus it is statistically proved that gender diversity has a significant impact on employee performance. For the other three remaining independent variables namely age, experience and education diversity, the significance values are 0.05, 0.68, and 0.76 respectively. This shows that the other three independent variables, even though they are positively correlated to dependent variable (employee performance), have insignificant impact on employee performance. Hence, the analysis result shows that only for Hypothesis No.1, the alternate hypothesis (H1) is accepted proving that there is significant relationship between gender diversity and employee performance. For Hypothesis No. 2, 3 and 4, the null hypothesis (H0) is accepted proving that there is no significant relationship between age, experience and education diversity on employee performance.

Therefore, the Regression equation is developed as follows:

Y= a + b X

Where ‘Y’ is the dependent variable employee performance, a and b are constants. 

The model equation based on the analysis is given below:

Y = 1.670 + 0.442(X1), (where X1 represents Gender)

Hence, it is concluded that the future performance of the employees in Nizwa College of Technology is affected by gender diversity. Any change in the gender diversity level will directly affect employee performance of the institution.

Findings of the Study

• There is a positive relationship between gender diversity and employee performance (0.571) and it has significant impact on employee performance

• There is a positive relationship between age diversity and employee performance (0.443) but, it has insignificant impact on employee performance

• There is a positive relationship between education diversity and employee performance (0.375) but, it has insignificant impact on employee performance

• There is a positive relationship between experience diversity and employee performance (0.437) but, it has insignificant impact on employee performance

• The significance value of gender diversity is less than 0.05, which means that there is significant impact of gender diversity on employee performance. Thus it is statistically proved that among all independent variables, gender diversity has significant impact on employee performance. Therefore, the model equation is derived as:

Y = 1.670 + 0.442(Gender)

Recommendations

• The study recommends the senior management of the higher educational institutions to put more focus on diversity management to improve the effectiveness of workforce diversity. The management should invest in initiatives for promoting diversity, especially gender diversity, in order for employees to feel that their organization is committed to diversity. Not only will the investment be helpful for improving positive employee attitudes and behaviors towards organization but bottom line performance as well.

• Higher educational institutions should continue to give both male and female equal opportunities during recruitment and other areas like growth and opportunities as it is shown in this study that gender diversity positively influence employee performance in Nizwa College of Technology

Based on the result of analysis on all the constructs of age diversity, gender diversity, experience diversity and educational diversity and employee performance and with regard to the central tendencies measurement of constructs results, it is evident that most employees are satisfied with gender diversity, experience diversity and educational diversity in the institution, except for age diversity for which the mean indicates a neutral attitude. Hence there is still more that needs to be done by the institution in terms of diversity management. The correlation results showed that gender diversity has an effect on employee performance and age and experience even though has moderate positive correlation does not have significant impact on employee performance. Also, education diversity has insignificant impact on employee performance with a weak positive correlation. Lastly, based on the discussion, the regression results showed that gender diversity was the most contributing variable towards the variation of employee performance, and age, experience and education diversities even though positively correlated, does not have significant impact on employee performance. Hence, it can be concluded from the study that the independent variables (gender diversity, age diversity, experience diversity and educational diversity) predict the dependent variable (employee performance) by 35.1%, thus, leaving out 64.9% (100%-35.1%) unexplained. In a nutshell, this means that there are other extra independent variables that were not put into consideration in this study that is significant in explaining variation in employee performance.

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