A systematic literature review of the relationship between demographic diversity and innovation performance at team-level

ABSTRACT

Demographic diversity is a relevant aspect to consider when forming innovation teams, particularly where the labour market needs to be transformed in terms of age, gender and race (as in South Africa). Existing research reports mixed findings about the effects of demographic diversity on innovation performance of teams. This study contributes to the existing equivocal research by systematically reviewing the literature about the effects of demographic diversity and its dimensions on innovation performance of teams. Results show that high diversity of demographic dimensions, namely age, gender and culture increases team innovation performance when considered individually while the overall team demographic diversity has mixed effects. This review also confirms the existence and effects of various moderators that can be leveraged to develop team-formation policies such that the direct effects of demographic diversity and its dimensions on team performance can be influenced to foster the desired innovation performance.