Are there any quantitative data backing up how diversed teams make them more creative?

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I think it’s wonderful that OP is trying to diversify their agency and is looking for data to help back up their efforts to leadership. I commend you and wish you the best of luck with your efforts. Stick with it and you’ll succeed.

Unless you’re just a racist troll. Considering you haven’t responded to any of the replies, I’m thinking that’s what this may be, sadly.

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☝🏼 this. i was getting bad vibes from this post. like what, you think a team of identical yes-men are going to make challenging, groundbreaking work? we've tried that before and it didn't go so well... especially when they inevitably had to market to people other than themselves!

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not all that difficult to find:

https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/scottepage/wp-content/uploads/sites/344/2015/11/pnas.pdf

https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/pdf/10.1287/orsc.2017.1162

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019850116300748

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@Director 2 first of all, interesting articles and thank you for sharing! If I may be critical of the material - which is by no means an assault on you - after reading the first two articles (the third is locked, it seems), there really isn't any solid grounding outside of the limited frameworks that are presented and explored. This pretty much reiterates the OP's struggle and/or challenge to us in finding actual data, as I understand it (although I could be misinterpreting).

For example, both articles tackle the definition of diversity differently - the second classifies based on nationality and multinationality, whereas the first quite literally defines it as:

"In the common understanding, diversity in a group of people
refers to differences in their demographic characteristics, cul-
tural identities and ethnicity, and training and expertise."

Although the first one applies a much more specific definition, the subjectivity of these definitions and applications are clear and even acknowledged in the limitations of the research (see last section, article two) - we can see that reiterated in the ACTUAL results where the variables contain almost zero linear relationship to the outcome.

All in all, it just goes to say that data analysis of subjective categorization is extremely tricky and needs more rigor to examine the complexity in how we define "diversity" and model its impact 😉

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Uhh people with different experiences come up with and create different ideas... making it different from what we’ve typically seen and making it more creative, duh

likefunny

Obvious but that is not quantitative

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🙋🏼‍♂️We are pretty diverse in the NYC office and we do solid work. Compare that to other agencies in the city...

likefunnysmart

*goes to WK career website. Our offices are far from diverse and our work is pretty telling

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You’re not allowed to ask this question. The answer is always yes.

likefunny

I can't say I disagree!

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@Copy1– The strategist is looking for hard “scientific” data from any research that has previously been conducted. Hence the “qualitative data” part. Duh 🙄

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Is there quantitative research/data showing homogenous teams make them more creative?

likeupliftingsmart

there's a podcast on hidden brain about this very topic! give it a listen

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i guess you could actually listen to the podcast or read one of the many sources posted and find that people coming from different experiences and backgrounds have a lot to add to creative teams and projects instead of trying to come up with an anecdotal gotcha 🤔

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I recently purchased this but haven’t read yet; seems to be what you’re looking for
https://www.amazon.com/Difference-Diversity-Creates-Schools-Societies/dp/0691138540

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Tons of data out there. Stop being lazy and do the research.

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@Director1 that's false though - the data all points to the opposite, because this is an experiment that's far too complex to design at a high-level. For example, how does one even define diversity? How does one define creativity? How does one define performance output?

To say there is tons of data reflects poorly on you, since you clearly don't know what you're talking about.

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Actually there is an npr hidden brain podcast about the topic and the evidence actually points to no difference in quality of output and smoother working process in teams who are more similar

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The articles Director2 provided below echo that same sentiment, even though the "experiments" were weakly designed.

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Given that quantitative data suggests objectivity, while both "diversed" and "creative" are subjective, you probably won't get very far...

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@D1 first and foremost, discretely categorizing diversity and creative performance are extremely difficult until we set objective boundaries (i.e. such as ethnicity, etc.). The problem is still a matter of defining diversity, which can be expressed nearly any way one wants (i.e. ethnicity, nationality, gender, height, cognitive functions, etc. can all be considered diversifying elements)...

Some data: some of the biggest trends in pop-culture, fashion, food and even on social media, are coming from communities of color, more specifically African-Americans. (Im talking US). Agencies are still mostly white and male. Women at the top are often white women. We keep seeing time and time again, these homogenous groups failing to connect with increasingly diverse audiences: Hi-jacking slang, and style, jumping on trends way too late, and creating problematic content. When consumers demand more diversity in the room, thats all the data you need in my opinion.

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Oof.

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I'd argue that you should strive for diversity regardless of outcome. I don't feel strongly that 10 diverse teams would necessarily make "better" work that could ever be accurately measured than 10 white male teams. Rather, it's the right thing to do. If you need to see data to hire people who aren't white males, you're doing it wrong.

look, i know you mean well, but good old boy management and crusty shareholders have never let us in out of the kindness of their hearts and they're not about to start. the only people they let in "out of the kindness in their hearts" are their friends and family. the rest of us better be bringing something to the table. diversity supporting creativity is a fairly well-documented, well-established phenomenon with a good amount of research behind it. i appreciate your support but arguing to these sorts of people that we're charity cases/should be treated as such is only going to make them dig their heels in further as they think you're telling them to eat the costs so some uppity coloreds can take their nephew's spot in the company. it's the wrong strategy.

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