The moderated curvilinear relationship between work experience diversity and salary

Abstract

Prior research on work experience diversity yields inconsistent findings regarding its effects on employment outcomes: some conclude that experience diversity discounts (e.g., Ferguson & Hasan, 2013; Zuckerman, Kim, Ukanwa, & Rittmann, 2003), whereas some highlight its benefits (e.g., Lazear, 2004; Custodio, Ferreira, & Matos, 2013). Using resume data of over one million individuals, the current study aims to account for this inconsistency by first differentiating functional diversity and industrial diversity in evaluating work experience diversity, and proposing an inverted U-shaped relationship between functional diversity and salary, which is moderated by industrial diversity. Specially, we focus on the socio-cognitive distances between different job functions and industries in assessing diversity. With all hypotheses supported by the results, our study provides a finer-grained understanding on how work experience diversity influences salary.

Publication
Academy of Management (AOM) Annual Meeting Proceedings

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