Researching Diversity in the Workplace
On This Page
- Data Sources
- Academic Studies
- Books
- Additional Resources (company lists, groups to follow, reports, etc.)
Data Sources to Study Diversity in the Workplace
The following datasets include variables that could be used to study diversity in organizations and the workplace.
These datasets are broad and tend to cover most large public companies in the US. However, you can find many more niche datasets, such as this survey that focuses on diversity within the field of scholarly publishing, or the replication data for a study looking at the percentage of women on boards in Finance and STEM industries around the world. Feel free to Ask Us is you're looking for something in particular.
Executives
Execucomp (in WRDS) has a flag for individual executive's gender and covers S&P 1500 companies (and some others). Execucomp can be linked with stock price and company financial data - contact us for more information.
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Compustat: Execucomp (in WRDS)For: Current Stanford faculty, staff, and students for Stanford-related academic research purposes.
- Go to Compustat > Execucomp > Annual Compensation.
- Fill out the Web Query Form (instructions). In Step 3 select the Gender variable.
Board of Directors
ISS (in WRDS) has both a gender and ethnicity variable for individual board of director's and covers S&P 1500 companies. ISS can be linked with stock price and company financial data - contact us for more information.
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ISS (in WRDS)For: Current Stanford faculty, staff, and students for Stanford-related academic research purposes.
- Go to Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). Scroll down and select Directors.
- Fill out the Web Query Form (instructions). In Step 3, select the Female? and/or Ethnicity variables.
Workforce Diversity
General
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission collects data in the Employer Information Report EEO-1 on gender and racial diversity in the workplace. See FAQs about the survey. Due to the time it takes the EEOC to process the data, there is a lag between when it is collected and then reported.
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EEOC - Special ReportsIndustry-specific reports and data and reports on the experiences of various ethnicities in workplaces in the U.S.
Tech
While many tech companies release diversity reports, we're not yet aware of a dataset that has aggregated them into a usable dataset. The following are some other options:
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DiversityReports.orgThis organization has aggregated some basic diversity figures at large companies and includes links to the underlying diversity report.
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Reveal Tech Diversity Data, 2016Part of the Center of Investigative Reporters, Reveal collected data on diversity in tech and released reports. This data is based on the 2016 EEO-1 survey.
Founders & Startup Diversity
It is not easy to get an existing diversity data for startups and founders, but here are some options.
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CrunchbaseCrunchbase added diversity data for executives of US companies in August 2020.
See more information on access to Crunchbase. -
PitchBookSee PitchBook Access help.
You can do a People search and filter by gender. You can also search for investors with a preference of invests in minority and women-owned business enterprises. Note that PitchBook does not allow for significant downloads, so it may not be the best source for a research project -
PrivCoUse your Stanford email to create an account
Focusing on U.S. Private companies, you can build a list of companies that are minority-led or women-led.
Fund Managers
There is not yet a wealth of information about the diversity of fund managers or investors.
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PreqinPreqin focuses on funds and fund management. You can search for fund managers where the firm is minority-owned or women-owned or with a firm ethos of invests in minority-owned portfolio companies or invests in women-owned portfolio companies. Go to Fund Managers > Advanced Search > More Filters > Firm Details and ESG/Ethos.
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Preqin (in WRDS)To more easily download large amounts of data, use Preqin in WRDS. See WRDS access and search help.
- Once in the Preqin dataset, go to the Fund Managers file.
- In Step 1, select Search the entire database.
- In Step 2, select all query variables. In the Conditional Statements, in the drop down, select whether the firm is minority owned and/or whether the firm is women owned. It should equal TRUE.
- In step 3, select the desired query output and press Submit query.
Nonprofits
We're not yet aware of a dataset or database that tracks the diversity of nonprofit executives or boards. The following reports have collected some data, primarily through surveys.
Academic Studies
As with any topic, there are thousands of articles written about diversity in organizations and business from a variety of disciplines. Below are just a handful of recent reviews (literature reviews, meta-analysis) on this topic.
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Diversity in the workplace: A review, synthesis, and future research agendaRoberson, Q. (2019). Diversity in the workplace: A review, synthesis, and future research agenda. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6. 69-88.
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012218-015243 -
Reinvigorating research on gender in the workplace using a positive work and organizations perspectiveWarren, M. A., Donaldson, S. I., Lee, J. Y., & Donaldson, S. I. (2019). Reinvigorating research on gender in the workplace using a positive work and organizations perspective. International Journal of Management Reviews, 21(4), 498-518. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12206
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Team creativity/innovation in culturally diverse teams: A meta‐analysisWang, J., Cheng, G. H., Chen, T., & Leung, K. (2019). Team creativity/innovation in culturally diverse teams: A meta‐analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(6), 693-708. DOI: 10.1002/job.2362
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Academy of Management Review | Special Topic Forum: Diversity at a Critical JunctureThis link will take you to the articles in the July 2019 (vol 44, issue 3) edition of the Academy of Management Review.
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Inclusive workplaces: A review and modelShore, L. M., Cleveland, J.N., & Sanchez, D. (2018). Inclusive workplaces: A review and model. Human Resource Management Review, 28(2), 176-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2017.07.003
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A review of perceived diversity in teams: Does how members perceive their team's composition affect team processes and outcomes?Shemla, M., Meyer, B., Greer, L., & Jehn, K. A. (2016). A review of perceived diversity in teams: Does how members perceive their team's composition affect team processes and outcomes? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37, S89-S106. DOI: 10.1002/job.1957
Additional Resources
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Journal Article DatabasesLinks to databases commonly used to find business related journal articles.
Books on Diversity in the Workplace
Below are a selection of books available through Stanford Libraries on the topic of race and diversity in the workplace and in management.
These links will take you to the SearchWorks page. See the left hand column for access information; eBooks will have a link to access online, print books will list the book's home library.
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Race, Identity and Work by Publication Date: 2018 -
The Oxford Handbook of Diversity and Work by Publication Date: 2013 -
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Race, Work, and Leadership by Publication Date: 2019 -
HBR's 10 Must Reads On DiversityPublication Date: 2019This collection of articles can also be looked up in our online access to Harvard Business Review.
Additional Resources
Generate a List of Companies Led or Owned by Women or Minorities
You can build basic lists of companies that are women or minority owned or employ women or minorities in executive positions in the following databases. These databases cover public and private businesses at the establishment level.
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D&B HooversGo to Search & Build a List. Under Company Type, expand the Core Info section and in the Diversity Status drop-down box select either Minority owned or Women owned.
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Data AxleGo to the U.S. Businesses Database and select Advanced Search. In the Executives options select Executive Gender to filter for Male or Female or Executive Ethnicity to filter for one or more listed ethnicities.
Alternatively, when you have a list of search results, if you select Download > Custom you can add the Executive Gender and Executive Ethnicity fields to the list of columns to export. -
OrbisIn the new Orbis interface, on the main search screen under Company you can select US companies owned or managed by women or US companies owned or managed by an ethnic minority.
Alternatively, for U.S. and non-U.S. companies, under Directors, Managers, and Advisors > Directors and Managers, you can screen for Gender. These columns can also be added to the search results after running a search if you don't want to limit the search to companies with executives or directors of a specific gender.
Groups & Organizations Focused on Diversity in the Workplace
The following are just some of the organizations devoted to studying or addressing diversity (or the lacktherof) in the workplace.
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Kapor Center"The Kapor family of organizations works to remove barriers to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education and tech careers for underrepresented people of color."
Creators of the Leaky Tech Pipeline. -
Catalyst"Catalyst is a global nonprofit working with some of the world’s most powerful CEOs and leading companies to help build workplaces that work for women."
See their resources on Gender, Race, & Ethnicity. -
Center for Employment Equity | UMass Amherst"The Center for Employment Equity is committed to documenting progress, and when necessary regress, toward our shared national goals of equitable diverse workplaces. We will provide scientifically careful analyses and curated data to the community of citizens, employers, and policy makers concerned with promoting equitable workplaces."
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GSB Diversity, Equity & InclusionStudies, events and resources highlighting diversity and inclusion efforts of the GSB community.
Other Relevant Reports
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U.S. House Committee on Financial ServicesThere are many committees that make up state and federal legislatures, and these committees often invite speakers to address a range of issues. This link takes you to hearings and reports that discuss diversity in the financial services industry. To find similar items from other committees, check their websites.
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CRS Reports | Keyword: DiversityThe Congressional Research Services (CRS) produces reports for members of Congress on a wide range of topics.
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World Economic Forum | Gender Gap ReportReleased each year since 2006.
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PWC | Global Diversity & Inclusion SurveyGlobal survey conducted in 2018 that focuses on workplace Diversity & Inclusion programs.
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McKinsey's Insights on Diversity and InclusionThis collection examines the barriers that prevent companies from addressing gender and racial equality and identifies solutions for building a stronger, more inclusive workforce.