The impact of store-unit–community racial diversity congruence on unit sales performance

The current investigation introduces the racial diversity congruence concept to the study of employee-community diversity effects to explore in hypothesis 1 whether (in)congruence (negatively) positively impacts store-unit performance. Utilizing social identity theory and information-based perspectives , the authors also proposed in hypothesis 2 that high-high racial diversity congruence, consisting of high levels of racial diversity across the employee and community segments, will maximize store-unit sales performance relative to congruence at low levels of racial diversity. In addition, asymmetrical incongruence effects were proposed in hypothesis 3 wherein better store-unit performance would emerge for highly racially-diversity store units in less diverse communities relative to store units with lower levels of diversity operating in highly-diverse communities. All three study hypotheses were supported within 220 retail store units. The implications of our results are elaborated in light of study limitations and future research needs.