Organizational Demography in Japanese Firms: Group Heterogeneity, Individual Dissimilarity, and Top Management Team Turnover
Margarethe F. Wiersema, Allan Bird
Academy of Management Journal · 1993 · Volume 36 · Issue 5
Abstract
This study demonstrates how demography theory can be extended to non-U.S. settings by developing a comprehensive model of factors that vary across nations and that may moderate the link between demographic characteristics and organizational outcomes. We propose that constraints on variation as well as sociocultural and organizational processes moderate the attention people pay to individual differences, thereby influencing demographic effects. In examining the effects of the composition of top management teams in fapanese firms, we found that heterogeneity on age, team tenure, and the prestige of the university attended were significant correlates of team turnover. Moreover, these findings were substantially stronger than those of comparable studies in the United Slates, suggesting that factors associated with changes in ethnological context mediate demographic effects.
Keywords
SOCIAL status, DEMOGRAPHY, MANAGEMENT -- Social aspects, TEAMS in the workplace, BUSINESS enterprises -- South Asia, INDIVIDUAL differences, SOCIAL sciences, HETEROGENEITY, AGE & employment, INDUSTRIAL management, PERSONNEL changes
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