The influence of cultural diversity on workplace performance

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between cultural diversity and workplace performance, as well as the role personality traits and multicultural experiences play in that relationship. Therefore, the research for this study is “How do personality and previous multicultural experiences affect employees’ creativity, job satisfaction, and relationships with co-workers in a diverse workplace”? The theory covers the effects of each of the variables of this thesis, namely cultural diversity, personality traits, and multicultural experiences, on three workplace performance outcomes, creativity, job satisfaction, and relationships with co-workers. This study used quantitative methods, specifically a survey, to explore whether the respondents working in a team find their teams culturally diverse, the personal behaviors of the respondents contribute to findings about their personality traits, as well as multicultural experiences respondents may or may not have experienced. Using a simple linear regression analysis, we found that cultural diversity has a negative impact on creativity and job satisfaction, but positively impacts relationships with co-workers. Additionally, using a moderation analysis, we confirmed that social-perceptual traits of the MPQ and going on exchange both have a positive impact on the relationship between cultural diversity and performance, whereas the rest of the moderating variables regarding the MPQ and multicultural experiences do not.