Workplace Diversity and Employee Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Nigeria’s Banking Sector ()
1. Introduction
The work environment is becoming more complex due to globalization and competition which as a result has necessitated the need for employees that are made up of people with varying ages, experience, knowledge and backgrounds to maximize competitive advantage (Akinnusi et al., 2017) . According to Akinnusi et al. (2017) , organizations that want to gain competitive advantage must widen their perspective on workplace diversity and diversity management, and the management must commit itself to ensuring that diversity management is part of its daily operations. Nigeria is known to be the giant of Africa with a population of over 180 million people and more than half the population consists of people of working age (Akinnusi et al., 2017; Ohunakin et al., 2019) . Hence, there is a large pool of talent from which organizations draw to achieve their goals. To manage the workplace, managers have created diversity policies that are in line with the Labour Act and other laws that have input in place to protect all kinds of employees from discrimination because of his/her social categorization (Kundu & Mor, 2017) . However, (Goswami & Goswami, 2018) opined that some organizations in a bit to escape lawsuits or other legal actions and to also put on a public show that makes them gain a good corporate image, pretend to embrace diversity rather than show a genuine desire for it by demonstrating a true commitment to the principles of diversity and inclusion.
Makhdoomi & Nika (2017) said so long as individuals with differences work in the same environment, diversity in the workplace will always be an issue. Though our differences can promote creativity and increase satisfaction at work nonetheless, they can be the root of conflict and frustration between groups (Makhdoomi & Nika, 2017) . Hence, some organization leaders have failed to understand how the workplace interacts with one another as individuals and as groups, and how the behaviour of the workplace can affect both employee and organizational performance (Makhdoomi & Nika, 2017; Ng & Sears, 2020) . Performance is affected when managers fail to understand diversity and are not skilled enough to manage issues of diversity (Ng & Sears, 2020) . Another problem is the issue of organizations still depending on the old programs that they have been using over the years to manage the present issues of workplace diversity, minimize bias and increase diversity and inclusion in the workplace. It is important for management to know that the diversity plan that works or is encouraged by one organization may not work in another as it may be challenged by the hierarchical structure that is present in such an organization. For this reason, some organizational leaders lack the knowledge on how to effectively manage diversity, create an inclusive environment and what strategies to employ to assist them in dealing with issues of diversity in the organization.
From the web search on workplace diversity, it was discovered that only very few research on workplace diversity and its relative effect have been conducted in Africa precisely Nigeria. Some that exist focused more on diversity’s effect on organizational performance or productivity, but not so much has been done to inspect the relationship and effect of workplace diversity and employees’ performance which in turn improves the entire organizational performance. Few such studies that exist, have failed to deliver a detailed examination of what workplace diversity is. Nigeria just like most countries of the world is diverse in its population content (people) and the people are ethnically or culturally diverse. Not only ethnically diverse but it is also characterized by other aspects of diversity which are even evident in organizations (age, gender, educational background, income, beliefs, etc.). Therefore, this study seeks to add to the already existing literature on workplace diversity by examining the empirical and theoretical concept of workplace diversity in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, educational background, income, and beliefs under three broad headings: Social diversity, Skill diversity and Values diversity and its impact on employees’ performance (effectiveness).
1.1. Research Hypotheses
This study, therefore, proposed the following hypotheses to validate its stated objectives.
Ho1: There is no significant impact of age diversity on employee performance;
Ho2: There is no significant effect of gender diversity on employee performance;
Ho3: There is no significant impact of ethnic diversity on employee performance;
Ho4: There is no significant effect of income diversity on employee performance;
Ho5: There is no significant effect of educational diversity on employee performance;
Ho6: There is no significant impact of employee beliefs on employee performance.
1.2. Profile of the Banking Sector in Nigeria
There are currently 22 commercial banks operating in Nigeria out of which only 13 of them are quoted on the Nigeria Stock Exchange and thus trading as a public liability company. The foundation of banking in Nigeria started in the colonial era. It is not necessary to delve into the historical drudgeries of the development of the banking system in Nigeria. The issue of the evolution of banking is clear to scholars and students in the field of management science. The move to do that was similar to the theory of “Necessity is the mother of invention” which pushed the idea to establish a bank in Nigeria championed by the Elder Dempster Group of Companies (Song et al., 2019) . In 1894, the First Bank of Nigeria was created in Nigeria. Thereafter, the United Bank for Africa (UBA), formerly known as Barclays Bank, was formed. The banks were made to offer monetary and other banking services for the colonial administration. Commercial banking started in Nigeria before independence. It started with the creation of the African Banking Corporation. The bank was saddled with the duty of giving out Bank of England notes for the British treasury. The monopoly of the two banks ended in 1933 when the National Bank of Nigeria was created, thereby becoming the first indigenous bank.
Between 1945 and till date, commercial banks in Nigeria have undergone periods of turbulence, with most of them going out of business mainly due to poor management and lack of patronage. It is necessary to highlight the few trends in the operating environment of the commercial banks of Nigeria, this is because the operating environment of any business stands as a major force to motivate the holders of the shares to invest in such businesses and a strong base for whether the operating environment can attract skilled professionals’ employees into the business. There were banks like Merchant Bank Limited, Nigeria Farmers and Commercial Bank, etc., that went under. With the rapid collapse of banks, the Federal Government deemed it necessary to play a part in the commercial banking sector through the injection of capital into the National Bank of Nigeria, Agbomagbe Bank and African Continental Bank. The intervention was to provide support and liquidity to the banks that were affected and discourage monopoly by expatriate banks and extend credit facilities to Nigerian entrepreneurs.
The Nigerian banking environment in recent decades has played host to a high level of labour turnover incidences in the sector. There are high waves of uncertainties occasioned by sector reforms, one would wonder if the operating environment in the past and present portray an enticing environment to attract skilled employees into taking banking jobs. Most nations have found it necessary to embark on one reform or the other, but the conditions necessitating the reform may vary and the character of the reform may differ from nation to nation. This means that a change process as a tool for nations’ economic, political, and social effectiveness is continuous and whatsoever informed the reform agenda must be tailored towards improving the quality of lives of the citizenry. Therefore any process or reform that does not address the problem of the quality of life of the people is a distraction from a nation’s entire system (Ketut et al., 2020) . Most reforms carried out in the Nigerian banking sector address only structural issues, investor stakes, legal issues, liquidity and portfolio management issues but would hardly address issues concerning employees’ welfare and satisfaction. The Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) era of 1993 witnessed fixed interest and exchange rates under guided deregulation. The deregulation witnessed the proliferation of banks and financial institutions more than the central bank of Nigeria (CBN) can handle (Makhdoomi & Nika, 2017) . The financial institutions witnessed serious waves of distress and failures that caused a loss of confidence in the industry. This brought about the recovery of debts from failed banks and the banks’ decree 1994 was promulgated to sanitise the banking industry. This reform brought about the reduction of regulations which made the banking sector suffer financial distresses. This led to the introduction of the universal banking system which empowered banks to operate in all aspects of retail banking be it in financial and non-financial markets (Hancock et al., 2013) cited in (Ozgen et al., 2017) .
The pre-Soludo era of 1999 to 2004 saw the number of banks not increase, but the number of branches increased from 2306 to 3383 with a consequence increase in the asset base of the banks (Hsiao et al., 2017) . The Soludo era of 2004 to 2005 came with the reform of strengthening and consolidating the banks. This reform came with its challenges that related to the stakeholders in the industry, the operators, regulatory authorities and the government as there was a loss of focus of the operators, loss of control and corruption on the part of regulators and a lack of monitoring by the government (Joubert, 2017) . These challenges came the era of Sanusi from 2009 to 2012. Soludo reform was focused on ensuring that Nigerian banks pay attention to the design of their international process and procedures concerning risk management. This gave rise to the assets management initiatives established to make banks operate in line with international standards (Joubert, 2017) . From the above reform agenda, successive administrations in Nigeria none seem to address the issue of employees’ welfare, and motivation. Therefore, it is safe to say the operating banking environment has completely ignored the need to deliberately address the issues of employees’ welfare through very strong policy instruments. The commercial banks in Nigeria include First Bank of Nigeria, Zenith International Bank, UBA, Guaranty Trust Bank, Eco Bank, Access Bank, Polaris Bank, Union Bank, SunTrust Bank Nigeria Limited, FCMB, Fidelity Bank, Sterling Bank, Standard Chartered bank, Stanbic IBTC, Heritage Bank, Citibank, Wema Bank, Unity Bank, Keystone Bank Limited, Titan Trust Bank Limited, Globus Bank Limited, and Providus Bank. The role of commercial banks in a developing nation like Nigeria, cannot be overemphasized because banking is the hub of the economic wheel of a nation as they help ensure the appropriate circulation of funds for citizens and business institutions.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Conceptual Framework
According to Gomez & Bernet (2019) and Pleasant (2017) , our diversities are the foundation of diversity. Diversity is the real or perceived differences between individuals. Anglim et al. (2019) opined that human beings no matter the diversity are all naturally equipped with different talents and aptitudes. Therefore, this study depicts its conceptual framework as adapted from Setati et al. (2019) , Anglim et al. (2019) to figuratively (Figure 1) illustrate the like between the dependent and independent variables of the study.
2.2. Theoretical Framework
Workplace diversity is a very broad field which arguably, has been generalized across many boundaries. That is management research, functional categories, social categories, and psychological research. This study, therefore, adopts the Social Categorization Theory and Human Capital Theory, and this is strict because the theories explain the various variables underpinning the concept of workplace diversity and employee performance thus activating sustainable organizational performance. Therefore, in a bid to achieve equitable treatment and performance of employees in the workplace, diversity management is crucial.
Furthermore, the Social Categorization Theory underpins this study because the theory is based on explaining overt, explicit or easily identifiable dissimilarity (like gender, age, ethnicity and belief) existing between individuals and reveals association of a particular social category. This theory builds on the assumptions already made in the social identity theory. Categorization involves the arrangement of persons into groups based on such characteristics as gender, age, race/ ethnicity, religion, status, tenure, etc. These classifications become social when a great number of individuals begin to draw similar judgments of individuals based on similar characteristics. The theory predicts that in a workgroup with outstanding characteristics such as age and gender, diversity will work to hinder group practices than add to group positive performance. In like manner, the Human Capital Theory opined that an organization that houses diverse workplace (both old and young employees) can benefit from both human capital. The younger employees have the physical resilience and the ability and willingness to learn new things. They also bring new ideas and skills on new technologies into the organization, and older employees have a range of experiences in the organization.
2.3. Empirical Review
Several research findings have shown a correlation linking diversity and group effectiveness. Al Raisi et al. (2019) study on one hand found that workplace diversity (especially ethnicity, age and gender) as having a positive effect on teams as it increases the opportunity for creativity among members. Though, on the other hand, the study also states that it negatively affected team members as it increases the likelihood that team members would be dissatisfied and fail to identify with the group. They concluded that in the short term, there are several negative consequences associated with workplace diversity e.g. lack of commitment from group members, dissatisfaction, lack of identification with the group; perceived discrimination, work-related friction; role conflict; role ambiguity; problems with social group integration, etc. whereas in the long term, they predicted negative consequences for organizational performance. Other studies reviewed with various findings on the impact of workplace diversity include Hossain et al. (2020) , Jaiswal & Dyaram (2020) , Tamunomiebi & John-Eke (2020) , Raut & Gokhale (2021) , Cletus et al. (2018) , Ayega & Muathe (2018) , Sohail et al. (2019) , Ohunakin et al. (2019) , Song et al. (2019) , Nguyen et al. (2022) , Creek et al. (2017) , Philip & Soumyaja (2019) , Igbadoo et al. (2021) , Mousa et al. (2020) , Chen & Tang (2018) , Schaffer (2019) and Porcena et al. (2021) .
Although there’s a growing body of literature on the effects of workplace diversity on employee performances, research in the area remains scanty and unsystematic regarding the definition of what constitutes diversity, the unit of analysis and dependent variables under investigation. Most research on diversity published in management literature focuses on interpersonal and intergroup issues. Empirically based research on the impact of workplace diversity at the organizational level is scarce. Furthermore, most of the research on the outcomes of diversity comes from experimental studies rather than empirical research conducted in actual organizational contexts.
According to Dahm (2003) , workplace diversity can stir up a range of negative feelings because some people fail to see it as an instrument for employee and organisational effectiveness. Instead, it is perceived as something bad that should be ignored or avoided. In some past empirical studies, most researchers narrowed their studies only focusing on a single aspect of workplace diversity e.g. multigenerational workplace or age diversity and employee productivity (Akinnusi et al., 2017; Anglim et al., 2019; Hassanloo & Gelard, 2018; Ohunakin et al., 2019; Pleasant, 2017; Suharnomo et al., 2017) , age diversity and organizational performance (Kunze, Boehm, & Bruch, 2013) , gender diversity and employee productivity (Guillaume et al., 2017) workplace ethnic diversity and group performance (Akpakip, 2017; Mwatumwa et al., 2016; Makhdoomi & Nika, 2017; Qasim, 2017; Muthoni, 2017) , generational differences and its effect on students and teachers performance (Paniale, 2013) . Hence, this study examined the effect of workplace diversity on employee performance. Although researchers have been examining how workplace diversity impacts organizational performance or productivity (Alghazo & Al Shaiban, 2016) , gender affects organizational performance (Marchau et al., 2019) however, it is not clearly understood how diversity relates to employee performance. Most of the studies that have been conducted in other countries and Nigeria, on workplace diversity have focused on its effect on firm or organizational performance or productivity relationship between workplace diversity and organizational performance (Barang’a & Maende, 2019; Liao et al., 2020; Xu & Zhang, 2019) workplace diversity management and corporate performance of firms in Nigeria, the effect of workplace diversity on organizational performance of selected firms in Nigeria, yet only a few focus on workplace diversity (in terms of age, gender, ethnicity and educational background) on employee performance. Though few studies have been done on the effect of workplace diversity on employee performance (Graham et al., 2017; Makhdoomi & Nika, 2017; Nadarajah et al., 2022; Setati et al., 2019) but these studies were conducted in countries other than Nigeria. However, researchers recommend continued research to be done to examine the impact of workplace diversity as previous studies have failed to jointly examine the relationship between gender diversity and performance, the relationship between workplace diversity and employee performance in the banking sector, and the effect of educational level diversity on the employee performance, which are the major of objectives of this study. Therefore, this study tries to fill this gap as it examines the relationship between workplace diversity (in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, income, educational background, and beliefs) and employee performance. This study therefore further provides a more systematic focus on the impact of workplace diversity on employee performance in the banking sector in Nigeria which has ongoing diversity management programs. It provides real contextual data and information from which more appropriate conclusions will be drawn.
3. Methodology
Research Design: Survey research design was most appropriate for this study because the study tends to establish the degree and nature of the relationship among the variables being considered in this study. This would enable the researcher to ascertain the extent to which variations in one variable are related to variations in another variable. This is so much so because the researcher is interested in finding out the relationship which exists among workplace diversity with proxies (age diversity, gender diversity, ethnic diversity, employee income diversity, educational background diversity, and employee beliefs diversity) and performance which will be measured by employee effectiveness.
The population of the Study
The population used in this study covered the Banking Sector in Nigeria. There are 22 Commercial Banks in Nigeria, but this study was limited to 8 Commercial Banks, categorized into four big and four small banks with a total of 903 bank staff as described in Table 1 below.
3.1. Sampling Technique
A multistage sample procedure was used in this study. The sampling procedure thus includes the following stages:
Source: Researchers’ compilation, 2021.
Stage 1: Cluster sampling techniques, this involves the use of the already existing Nigeria’s geo-political zones as a cluster and thus a sampling unit for further selection; Stage 2: In this stage, the states were selected randomly from the cluster already identified in sampling stage 1. Therefore, for a fair representation, two states were selected randomly from each of the geo-political zones using the Table of Random Numbers; Stage 3: Stratified sampling technique was used to categorize the target sample unit which is the commercial banks into two groups (big and small banks). Then, a simple random technique was used to select four banks from each of the categories (cluster); Stage 4: These randomly selected banks are expected to have branches in all the selected states as identified in Stage 2. However, only the head branch of the bank is then taken as the targeted sampling unit to represent the selected state as identified in the reconnaissance study by the researcher, thus making only banks to be considered for the study.
Sample Size Determination: The sample size was determined from a finite population of the total banks in the selected states in Nigeria using Cochran (1977) as cited by Kotrlik & Higgins (2001) .
Cochran’s formula for calculating sample size with the population information is given as1:
(1)
where: the population size (N (finite) patients of the Asokoro hospital diabetic Clinic.
In order to determine
, however, Cochran (1977) provides the following formula1:
(2)
where: n0 is the sample size for infinite population.
Z is the selected critical value of desired confidence level p is the estimated proportion of an attribute that is present in the population
q = 1 – p
e = the desired level of precision
Assuming the maximum variability which is equal to 50% (p = 0.5) and taking 95% confidence level with ± 5% accuracy, the calculation for the sample size,
n0 is: p = 0.5; q = 1 – 0.5 = 0.5; e = 0.05 and Z = 1.96
Then by substitution, the first equation above becomes:
Thus, making a sample size of 300 respondents (staff) will be required for the study approximately.
3.2. Method of Data Collection
The primary data was obtained through physical and online questionnaires administration through the help of Microsoft forms (https://cutt.ly/9I2hHjs) and research assistants due to the overwhelming impact of the covid-19 pandemic.
3.3. Method of Data Analysis
The linear regression model was used for this study. The model measures the relationship between workplace diversity (WD) and employee performance of the selected banks in Nigeria. The performance indicators used include employee effectiveness.
(3)
where: Workplace diversity (WD): Age diversity (AD), Gender diversity (GD), Ethnic diversity (ED), Income diversity (ID), Education diversity (ED) and Belief diversity (BD). While the dependent variable: is employee performance: employee effectiveness (EFT). From this functional relationship, the following linear regression models are also specified α0 is the intercepts of the regression lines. (α1 α2 α3 α4 α5 α6) are slope coefficients to capture the nature and effect of the relationship between the variables. While µ is the error term.
4. Analysis Results
A total of three hundred (300) respondents were required to fill out the questionnaire the sample size of the study. The data for this study was collected over three weeks in six states representing the six geo-political zones of Nigeria according to the sampling method explained in section 3. The twelve states are Ondo, Lagos, Enugu, Imo, Cross-River, Delta, Adamawa, Gombe, Kaduna, Katsina, Benue and Kogi. Since the questionnaire was filled out online and physically, as soon as the entry reached 270 respondents as required by the sample determination formula, the survey was closed for analysis.
4.1. Descriptive Statistics
Source: Researcher’s computation.
The general mean response for this item is 4.20 which represents an agreement on the Likert scale signifying the positivity about gender diversity in this workplace. The general mean response for this item is 4.07 which represents an agreement on the Likert scale signifying the positivity about age diversity in this workplace. The general mean response for this item is 3.83 which represents an agreement on the Likert scale and it implies that they are positive about ethnicity diversity in this workplace. The general mean response for this item is 3.92 which represents an agreement on the Likert scale and it implies that the organization gives equal treatment when it comes to the diversity of educational background. The general mean response for this item is 3.71 which represents an agreement on the Likert scale and it implies that they are always willing to work in teams because of the opportunity to learn from both their subordinates and superiors. The general mean response for this item is 4.20 which represents an agreement on the Likert scale and it implies that Income diversity among their colleagues is not perceived as a factor in our level of efficiency. The general mean response for this item is 3.96 which represents an agreement on the Likert scale and it implies that good employee performance is important for the future growth of the organization.
4.2. Pre-Model Diagnostic Test
From Table 2, the normality test of variables was tested with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk. The result shows that none of the variables was normally distributed when in its original form since their respective p-value was observed to be less than the 0.05 (5%) level of significance. Then a natural logarithm transformation of the variables was done to correct for the normality assumption violations and thus re-tested and all the variables were seen to be normally distributed after the natural log transformation. Thus, the natural log transformation of the variables will be used in fitting the multiple regression model.
As observed in Table 3, the Centered VIF coefficient was obtained and observed to range from 1.132 to 1.385 for all the variables (AD, GD, EtD, ID, BD and ED). Which falls within the range 1 < VIF < 5 which implies that there is a
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Table 2. Normality test for variables.
aLilliefors Significance Correction; Source: SPSS Output.
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Table 3. Multicollinearity test statistics.
aDependent Variable: EFT.
presence of moderately correlated explanatory variables in the models to be formulated. Hence, multicollinearity is not a problem for the models to be formulated.
4.3. Test of Hypotheses
Assessment of the acceptability of the postulated hypotheses was carried out on the available data, using the multiple linear regression model (Table 4). The level of significance is limited to a 5% (0.05) level of significance.
The R-squared of 0.691 indicated that 69.1% variation in employee performance proxied by Employees’ Effectiveness is attributed to all the independent variables (ED, EtD, AD, BD, ID and GD). Also, the diagnostic checks of the residual of the model were done using the Durbin-Watson test. The Durbin Watson (DW) statistic test reveals that there is no autocorrelation in the residuals from the regression model fitted. This is evident with the value of 1.891 which is approximately 2.0 which implies no autocorrelation detected in the fitted model.
aPredictors: (Constant), ED, EtD, AD, BD, ID, GD.
Hence, the inference about the model can be relied on for policy analysis and further predicts.
Furthermore, the F-test is used to test the joint significant effect of the independent variables on the dependent variable as stated. The F statistics a calculated value of 4.194 and p-value of 0.000 which is less than 0.05 (5%) level of significance, which implies that a significant joint impact of all the independent variables (ED, EtD, AD, BD, ID, GD and the mediating effect of employee efficiency) exist on the dependent variable employee performance proxied by employee effectiveness. Hence, these findings show conclusively that there is a significant impact of all workplace diversity on employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks on the employees’ performance.
4.4. Model Parameter Estimates
This study adopts the multiple regression analysis model approach to ascertain the impact of the various workplace diversity variables on the employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks. The estimated regression model coefficients were used to make inferences about all the postulated hypotheses. The variables selected include a measure of employee effectiveness as a measure of the employees’ performance which is the dependent variable. The independent variables include education diversity (ED), ethnic diversity (EtD), age diversity (AD), belief diversity (BD), income diversity (ID), and gender diversity (GD) as presented in Table 5 below.
Since the p-value associated with the Obs * R-squared is greater than 0.05 (5%), thus there is no presence of serial correlation in the model (Table 6).
The model is also free of heteroskedasticity since the p-value of the Obs * R-square is observed to be greater than the level of significance of 0.05 (5%) (Table 7).
Residual Normality Test: Here, the Jarque-Bera test with a test statistic of 5.0529 and p-value of 0.0799 which is greater than the 0.05 (5%) level of significance implies that the residual of the model is normally distributed as expected and required for any ordinary least square which is one of its fundamental assumptions.
4.5. Discussion of Findings
This subsection will discuss the findings of this dissertation with the reference to what is obtainable in the currently available literature. The discussion will be sequentially following the tested hypothesis.
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Table 5. Model parameter estimates.
aDependent Variable: EFT; *10%, **5%, ***1%; Source: Author’s Computation.
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Table 6. Serial correlation test: Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM Test.
Source: Author’s computation.
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Table 7. Heteroskedasticity Test: Breusch-Pagan-Godfrey.
Source: Author’s computation.
Hypothesis One: From the regression analysis results for hypothesis one there is an indication that age diversity (AD) has a negative and not statistically significant influence on the employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks. The results necessitated the acceptance of null hypothesis one. Thus, establishing age diversity has no significant effect on the employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks. The finding for hypothesis one agrees with the study of Milliken & Martins (1996) who found that workplace diversity (especially ethnicity, age and gender) as having a positive effect on teams as it increases the opportunity for creativity among members. Also the study’s findings of Bunderson and Sutcliffe (2002) support this.
Hypothesis Two: From the result for hypothesis two indicated that gender diversity (GD) which is a component of succession strategies has a reported positive coefficient value. This indicates gender diversity significantly increases the Employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks. This study, therefore, established that gender diversity has a significant effect on Employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks during the period under review. The findings of hypothesis two do agree with the findings of Weiliang, Mun, Fong, & Yuan (2011) who reported a link between gender and employee performance. This means that all employees irrespective of gender must meet the annual target that is set by the organization. Although, this finding negates the findings of Darwin & Palanisamy (2015) study on workplace diversity and employee performance which showed that age, gender and ethnic diversity have no significant impact on the performance of employees. The findings revealed that employees had a neutral perception of workplace diversity.
Hypothesis Three: From the linear multiple regression analysis result for hypothesis three indicated that ethnic diversity (ETD) has a statistically significant positive coefficient value. The indication of a positive and significant effect of ethnic diversity (ETD) on employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks would mean that null hypothesis three is rejected. The result means there is a positive effect of ethnic diversity on the employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks in Nigeria which is also significant. This finding is thus corroborating the studies of Weiliang et al. (2011) citing Pitts and Jarry (2005) said as the workplace becomes more heterogeneous in terms of ethnic composition, managers are having a growing interest to know how having a diverse workplace influences the cohesion in the workplace and the overall organizational performance increases.
Hypothesis Four: From the result for hypothesis four indicated that income diversity (ID) has a positive coefficient value and is statistically significant. With this, the fourth null hypothesis was rejected. Thus, the results established that income diversity (ID) has a significant positive effect on employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks. However, the finding of the hypothesis is in line with the study of Langton et al. (2013) , who posited that the relationship between income and employees’ job performance is likely to be an issue of increasing importance during the next decade. According to them, the reasons for this are; first, the common belief that job performance diminishes with increasing income.
Hypothesis Five: From the result for hypothesis five indicated that educational diversity (ED) has a negative coefficient value and is not statistically significant at five per cent. With this, the fifth null hypothesis was accepted. Thus, the results established that educational diversity (ED) has no significant effect on employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks. A close observation of the results of recent empirical studies by Cohen & Bailey (2001) posited that differences in the educational background of employees can bring about a significant effect on group performance just like their different capabilities since it promotes a wide assortment of talents. Also supported by the work of Holland (1997) that mentioned that a person’s preference for a certain field of knowledge can in some way reveal the personality and the strong point of such an individual. Also, a study by Carpenter & Fredrickson (2001) showed that different educational backgrounds and global experiences have a strong correlation with the way an organization is strategically positioned with other organizations.
Hypothesis Six: From the result for hypothesis six indicated that employee beliefs diversity (BD) with coefficient value is positive and statistically significant. This implies that belief diversity positively influences employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks. Thus, necessitating the rejection of the null hypothesis; then the finding established that, belief diversity has a significant positive effect on employees’ performance in Nigeria’s deposit money banks. The finding of hypothesis six of this study contradicts the results of Mohammed et al. (2004) that suggested that the management field and organizations may pay a heavy price for their oversight of the spirituality and beliefs of the employees. Although supported by the study of Moore et al. (2008) who showed a positive correlation between prayer and the motivation of employees. Others that support this finding include Vasconcelos (2009) , McCarty (2007) and McGhee and Grant (2008) .
5. Conclusion
Diversity has a substantial association with employee performance, according to the literature and survey conducted for this study. The study reveals that diversity is an important aspect of businesses that cannot be overlooked. The diversity of research is quickly increasing over the years. Organizations are beginning to realize that it is critical to their success. This is because a study found that having a diverse workplace and fostering an inclusive environment improves employee effectiveness, which improves organizational performance or productivity. The respondents to the study stated that the bank has an inclusive policy, as it provides equal opportunities for male and female professional progression. When it comes to advancement chances for women, there is no discrimination. Respondents also agreed that having a diverse educational background can help them perform better. It is critical to emphasize that Nigeria is a diverse country in terms of both resources and demographic traits. As a result, the Nigerian banking business operates in a multicultural and ethnically diverse setting. As a result, organizational leaders must understand how workplace makeup impacts or influences group performance and overall organizational performance.
The impacts of workplace diversity on employee performance in firms, notably the banking industry, appear to be positively significant based on conceptual, theoretical, and empirical studies. The study’s objectives were met, and the analyses provided comprehensive answers to the research questions. Except for ethnic diversity, the answers to the research questions are affirmative, indicating that there is a considerable association between workplace diversity (gender, age, and educational diversity) and employee performance. As a result, workplace diversity has an impact on employee performance. For example, in terms of educational diversity, an employee’s job performance might be influenced by the skills he or she has acquired through education, experience, and training. Employee performance is also affected by age diversity; a youthful employee may be more productive because he or she still has the strength and abilities to complete tasks. An older employee, on the other hand, can perform his job well since he has the necessary expertise and abilities. According to the findings, organisations with a decent balance of male and female staff are more likely to perform well than those dominated by the same gender. Because all genders think and act differently, an organisation that promotes diversity is implicitly encouraging varied ideas that male and female employees will express. Employee behaviour, capacity or ability, motivation, organizational commitment, and organizational culture are some of the characteristics that modify and explain the relationship between workplace diversity and employee performance, according to theoretical, conceptual, and empirical studies. Consequently, this study shows that gender, ethnicity, income, and belief diversity have a significant positive relationship with employee effectiveness and thus employees’ performance.
Recommendation
1) It’s interesting to see that the bank realizes and appreciates the importance of having a diverse workplace, as well as having an established diversity policy. However, not all businesses understand the importance of diversity. Every organization must embrace diversity and not only be pleased with having such a workplace but also ensure that they harness all the benefits that come with diversity and put in place processes to mitigate the negative consequences that may occur from group social categorization.
2) The findings of this study have provided evidence that employee performance has a positive correlation with workplace diversity variables such as age, gender and educational background. Therefore, organizations need to begin to get conscious of why it is needful that they deal with demographic characteristics to gain a competitive advantage over competitors and stay competitive.
3) One of the challenges of diversity in the workplace is the issue of communication. Some employees feel that the language barrier affects their performance. The task should be communicated clearly, and the organization should try to promote a general language to enhance trust among employees. This is so because when an employee or group of employees feel left out because he/she couldn’t get along with others due to a language barrier it can affect the way he/she relates with others. When there is no trust, information may be withheld, and this could affect performance. The organization should have similar perspectives and channels of communication in the workplace to successfully carry out its task. Organizations that uphold a hierarchical structure of communication and this is most suited for vertical communication while informal communication e.g., grapevine which lets most horizontal communication occur although it has small or no trustworthiness. Hence this can lead to mistrust causing the messages flowing from top management to their subordinates about diversity management to be distorted. Therefore, management should make certain that great effort is taken to ensure that workers are properly informed of the present or existing initiatives and programmes of diversity and ensure to educate or train existing and newly employed employees on issues of diversity and its importance.
4) From the literature reviewed, it was discovered that some organizations still have a glass ceiling that prevents women from advancing into senior positions in the organizations. From the result of this study, it is evident that employees feel motivated when they work with colleagues of a different gender as they perceive the opposite gender as being capable of performing their job effectively. As such, organizational leaders should take off the glass ceiling factor and review the pay structure in the organization to promote equality in pay as this can be one way of encouraging high performance from women and minorities.
Acknowledgements
We thank Nigeria’s commercial banks for approving the participation of their staff in the participation in the questionnaire filling and data provision for this study.