The Organizational Demography of Racial Employment Segregation
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4300-03.pdf
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300.58 KB
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49c7ffdd77a1e90806f160743ef2cf15
Author(s)
SORENSEN, JESPER
Date Issued
May 2, 2003
Series/Report no.
MIT Sloan School of Management Working Paper;4300-03
Abstract
This article examines how workers respond to changes in the racial composition of
their workplaces. An analysis of the job histories of new hires into multiple
workgroups within a single firm reveals path dependence in the effects of group
composition on turnover. Exit rates are inversely related to the level of same-race
representation at the time of organizational entry, and increase when workers
experience declines in representation. However, turnover rates do not decline in
response to increases in representation. The challenge of workplace racial integration
therefore lies not simply in eliminating discrimination in hiring, but also in managing the
post-hire dynamics of changes in group composition. Implications of the asymmetric
effects of compositional change for the literature on organizational demography are
also discussed.
Subjects
Racial Employment Segregation
Integration
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