Title: Managing workforce diversity from the perspective of two higher education institutions

Authors: Michel Zaitouni; Amani Gaber

Addresses: College of Business Administration, Gulf University for Science and Technology, P.O. Box 7207, Hawally 32093, Kuwait ' College of Business Administration, Gulf University for Science and Technology, P.O. Box 7207, Hawally 32093, Kuwait

Abstract: While a growing number of research studies on diversity in higher educational institutions provide a broad evidence for the positive influence that workforce diversity has on performance, this study drawn from one American (n = 539) and one Middle Eastern (n = 145) university revealed that cultural diversity and equality and diversity were positively related to organisational performance in both universities. Our hypothesised relationship between multicultural diversity and performance was not supported in the Middle Eastern university; this is due to the fact that even when non-western universities use the US model, they still confront many challenges resulting from the lack of completely not partially integrating the US model in the whole strategy of the university.

Keywords: corporate performance; multicultural diversity; equality management; diversity management; workforce diversity; higher education institutions; HEIs; cultural diversity; culture; organisational performance; universities; University of Missouri-St Louis; USA; United States; Gulf University for Science and Technology; Kuwait.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPM.2017.080846

International Journal of Business Performance Management, 2017 Vol.18 No.1, pp.82 - 100

Accepted: 04 Dec 2015
Published online: 09 Dec 2016 *

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