The effect of a leader's personality traits on the relation between ethnic diverse workforces and inclusion

(1)

The

effect of a leader's personality traits on the

relation between ethnic diverse workforces and

inclusion.

Li Zhou Bachelor thesis

Student ID: 107655763 Academic year: 2017/2018

Supervisor: Dr. N. Abu Ghazaleh Submitted on: 17-06-2018

(2)

Statement of originality

This document is written by Li Zhou who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this

document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.

(3)

Abstract

A globalizing world has brought change in the workforce composition as workforces have become increasingly ethnic diverse. Leaders have the important task of

managing the workforce and need to understand the implications that come with an ethnic diverse workforce. This conceptual study aims to provide a theoretical base in which the effects of the big five personality traits; agreeableness, openness to

experience, extraversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism are studied in relation to the perception of inclusion in ethnic diverse workforces. In addition, a conceptual model is presented in which bias between ethnic diverse team members and its effect on the perception of inclusion is also considered. Based on this model, it is proposed that agreeableness, openness to experience and extraversion are the most favourable personality traits to possess as a leader to create an inclusive environment for ethnic diverse workforces.

(6)

6

1. Introduction

For years, globalization has created opportunities for contact between people with different cultural backgrounds resulting in a growth of ethnical diversity in the workplace (Martin, 2014). The increasing stream of refugees coming to the West looking for shelter or jobs in recent years, also contributes to more ethnic diversity (Balkozar, 2017). As a result, there is also more ethnic diversity in the workplace (Pitts & Jarry, 2007). Therefore, collaboration between the ethnic diverse workforce members has become more important as ethnic diversity will only increase more in the future (Choi, 2017; Pitts & Jarry, 2007; Distefano & Maznevski, 2000).

Ethnic diverse teams are often regarded as valuable in theory, but in practice however, this is often not the case (Distefano & Maznevski, 2000; Al-Jenaibi, 2011). Furthermore, there are many mixed findings about the effects of ethnic diversity on firm performance. Some studies indicate that ethnic diverse workforces generate positive work-related outcomes compared to homogenous workforces (Van

Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007; Gonzales & Denisi, 2009). Other studies emphasize on the negative effects that ethnic diverse workforces have on work-related outcomes, such as bias (Shore, Chung-Herrera, Dean, Ehrhart, Jung, Randel & Singh, 2009; Thatcher & Patel, 2011). The question whether ethnic diversity has positive or negative effects, has inconsistent outcomes when looking at previous studies which suggests that both negative and positive outcomes are possible. As a result, the question when and under which circumstances ethnic diversity has a positive or negative effect has become more interesting. There are several factors that influence this outcome. One important factor is leadership as the change in the global

environment has demanded leaders to adapt to the changing workforce composition (Caligiuri, 2006).

Leaders can have a big influence on work related outcomes. Team members of different cultural backgrounds hold different values and norms which can make a high-quality leader-member relationship and the inclusion of these members more difficult (Distefano & Maznevski, 2000). Furthermore, a leader has the important task of making the team members feel unique and included (Shore, Randel, Chung, Dean, Ehrhart & Singh, 2011). Among researchers, it was apparent that inclusion has

(7)

7

Shore, 2016). However, little research has been conducted on the leader's behaviour that leads to a team member's perception of being included (Shore et al., 2011). Moreover, little research has been conducted on the psychological mechanisms behind the leader's behaviour in this specific context. As Gallego & Pardos-Prado (2014) stated, personality traits as determinants of attitudes towards ethnic minorities have often been overlooked. This is also confirmed by Randel, Galvin, Shore,

Ehrhart, Chung, Dean & Kedharnath (2018), who stated that "the diversity and inclusion literatures have not adequately addressed how a leader's individual

characteristics might impact their behaviours and contribute to leading diverse groups effectively".

Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to understand how the perception of inclusion is influenced by the leader's behaviour towards the ethnic diverse

workforce. More specifically, focus will be given to the leader's personality traits that drive this behaviour and its effects on bias in the ethnic diverse workforce. This leads to the following research question:

How does a leader's personality traits affect an ethnic diverse workforce's perception of inclusion?

This thesis will be structured as the following; in section 2, a literature review will be given which describes the theory of previous researches. In addition, sub-questions will be formulated based on the theories. In section 3, a conceptual model will be presented and elaborated on. In section 4, the sub-questions will be answered and the resulting outcomes will present an answer to the research question. Finally, in section 5 the discussion and the conclusion will be given, together with the limitations and suggestions for future research.

2. Theoretical framework

This theoretical framework will outline the most important findings and theories from previous studies on personality traits, leader behaviour, ethnic diverse workforces and intergroup bias, and perception of inclusion. Relevant existing

(8)

8

theories will be studied in detail and sub-questions will be formulated based on these theories.

2.1 Personality traits

In this thesis, the leader's personality will be highlighted through "The Big Five" personality traits which is also known as "The Five-Factor Model of

Personality". This is the most renowned trait theory of personality and it is well developed with much empirical evidence supporting the model (Jackson & Poulson, 2005; Tuncdogan, Acar & Stam, 2017). The five personality traits are (1)

Agreeableness, (2) Openness to experience, (3) Extraversion, (4) Conscientiousness, and (5) Neuroticism (opposite of emotional stability) (Caligiuri, 2006). When dealing with ethnic diverse workforces, it is important to look at these different personality traits because it is likely that these traits have an impact on successfully completing leadership tasks (Caligiuri, 2006). This was supported by Tuncdogen et al. (2017) who stated that personality traits are the psychological factors that are "the precursors of a range of leader behaviours". In this context, the leadership tasks would include but are not limited to; supervision, management, motivating ethnic diverse workforces and maintaining a positive interpersonal relationship. Therefore, the effects of the leader's personality traits on the leader's behaviour will be considered.

Many researchers have found that personality is of big influence on attitudes (Sibley & Duckitt, 2008). However, some personality traits are stronger and more reliable predictors of attitude. Multiple researchers found the personality traits agreeableness and openness to experience to be the strongest and most reliable predictors of attitudes towards ethnic diversity (Sibley & Duckitt, 2008; Jackson & Poulson, 2005; Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014; Ekehammar & Akrami, 2003). Therefore, effects of agreeableness and openness to experience will be considered as more important than the other personality traits. In the next section, all personality traits from "The Big Five" and its effects on the leader's behaviour towards the ethnic diverse workgroup will be studied.

2.1.1 Agreeableness

A high degree of agreeableness is often recognizable by kind behaviour towards other people (Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014). Agreeable people are typically less competitive and more mutually understanding (Caligiuri, 2006). Furthermore,

(9)

9

agreeableness is found to be the opposite of antagonism (Ekehammar & Akrami, 2003). Also, agreeable people tend to initiate contact more and contact experience tends to be perceived more positively (Jackson & Poulson, 2005). Finally, research has shown that high levels of agreeableness has a positive effect on an individual's happiness which results in a decreased perception of differences between other individuals (Jackson & Poulson, 2005).

On the other hand, people with low degrees of agreeableness are more likely to pursue goals of self-interest without concern for another (Sibley & Duckitt, 2008). They are more competitive because of their limited concern for other people and they value power. Furthermore, dominance and superiority is often what motivates people who have low levels of agreeableness (Sibley & Duckitt, 2008).

Roberts, Walton & Viechtbauer (2006) stated that younger people have a lower level of agreeableness than older people. This is because they found that agreeableness increases through an individual's life span, using student samples. However, similar results were found by several other studies that used different research samples which confirm this finding (Sibley & Duckitt, 2008).

2.1.2 Openness to experience

A high degree of openness to experience is often paired with the acceptability of diversity (Caligiuri, 2006; Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014). As the name of this personality trait may already suggest, people with high degrees of openness to

experience are often more open towards other cultures and befriend with people from other cultures faster as well (Jackson & Poulson, 2005). In addition, they accept different point of views more and are more willing to accept information that is not consistent with existing beliefs (Flynn, 2005). Furthermore, openness to experience has a positive relation with liberal values and a negative relation with authoritarianism (Van Hiel, Kossowska & Mervielde, 2000). A high degree of openness to experience also predicts that an individual is more likely to mitigate negative stereotyping about minority group members (Flynn, 2005).

On the other hand, people with low degrees of openness to experience tend to stick to negative stereotyping of minority groups (Flynn, 2005). They are also

(10)

10

Duckitt, 2008). These people often view the out-group as threatening because of the different views from their own in-group values (Sibley & Duckitt, 2008).

In contrast to agreeableness which increases through the life span, openness to experience tends to increase through young adulthood but decreases at older ages (Roberts et al., 2006). Therefore, Roberts et al. (2006) found that personality traits develop and change through a person's life span. From this, it can be concluded that leaders from an older age group have a higher level of agreeableness with lower levels of openness to experience whereas leaders from a younger age group have a lower level of agreeableness with a higher level of openness to experience.

2.1.3 Extraversion

Extraversion refers to the high activity, sociability and assertiveness of a person. High levels of extraversion are positively related to interpersonal relationships and often leads to more social cohesion (Moynihan & Peterson, 2001). In addition, extraverts are optimistic, ambitious and influential which allows them to be perceived as a leader (Özbağ, 2016). Interpersonal skills are important for the leader; therefore, the personality trait extraversion is also important for a leader to possess. However, when there are too many extraverted members in a group it can lead to conflict because there are too many individuals trying to exert dominance (Moynihan & Peterson, 2001). Thus, variation in extraversion among members may be more optimal because it makes it less likely that multiple members seek dominance, which can prevent conflict (Moynihan & Peterson, 2001).

2.1.4 Conscientiousness

Individuals with high levels of conscientiousness are often organized, disciplined and reliable (Tuncdogan et al., 2017). Also, they like consistency and order (Moynihan & Peterson, 2001). Furthermore, conscientious people have a strong moral compass as they attribute high value to truth and honesty and they take duties and responsibilities seriously (Özbağ, 2016). Finally, it was found that leader

conscientiousness is positively related to team decision-making in which staff input is often considered (Moynihan & Peterson, 2001). However, conscientiousness people were also found to be more conservative. This is an indicator for anti-immigrant behaviour (Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014), which suggests that attitudes towards

(11)

11

ethnic diverse workforces may also differ from attitudes towards workforces consisting of only natives. On the other hand, conscientious people often have high education which in turn is associated with positive attitudes towards immigrants (Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014). These conflicting results suggest that the degree of conscientiousness is important.

2.1.5 Neuroticism

Neuroticism refers to the extent to which a person experiences negative emotion (Tuncdogan et al., 2017). High degrees of neuroticism indicate anxiety, worry, anger, insecurity and stress (Özbağ, 2016). It was found that high levels of neuroticism are related to sensitivity towards threats (Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014). For example, Gallego & Pardos-Prado (2014) argued that neurotic individuals feel threatened by immigrants and therefore reject them. However, it is unclear whether different norms and values, which are usually present with an ethnic diverse

workforce are perceived as a threat by neurotic people. Still, it was found that neurotic individuals show more hostility towards others (Özbağ, 2016). Therefore, neuroticism has detrimental effects on performance and behaviour.

Personality traits can change over time (Roberts et al., 2006; Roberts, Luo, Briley, Chow, Su & Hill, 2017). Whereas Roberts et al. (2006) found that personality traits change incrementally at a slow pace over the span of years, Roberts et al. (2017) found that personality changes can occur faster. They found that the levels of

personality traits showed changes even in the first month through intervention such as therapy treatment. Especially the levels of emotional stability (opposite of

neuroticism) changed for the better through therapy treatment, followed by extraversion. Therefore, the degree of neuroticism (negative) in a person can be changed into emotional stability (positive).

In conclusion, personality traits are important precursors of leader behaviour. Since personality traits are indicators of leader behaviour and bias, it is likely that differences in the degree of these traits lead to a difference in behaviour. This leads to the following sub-question:

SQ1: How do the "Big Five" personality traits influence a leader's behaviour towards an ethnic diverse workforce?

(12)

12

In addition, personality traits change over time and can even be affected through intervention. This will be considered as well in section 4. Answering this sub-question is an important step to finding the effects of personality traits on the perception of inclusion in the ethnic diverse workforce.

2.2 Surface-level and deep-level diversity

As mentioned before, workforces are becoming more and more ethnically diverse which could have either positive or negative and, in some cases, non-significant effects as a result (Al-Jenaibi, 2011; Leslie, 2017). To better understand the constructs and the relationship between ethnic diversity and inclusion, it is important to understand the meaning of ethnicity itself first. Different studies have defined ethnic diversity in different ways. A broad definition of ethnic diversity has been given by Van Knippenberg, De Dreu, & Homan (2004), who state that diversity is the difference between individuals on any aspect that can lead to perceive another individual to be different from yourself. There are generally two different ways of observing a perceived difference between individuals.

The first way of looking at ethnic diversity is by looking at the surface-level or demographic diversity. Many researchers have looked at surface-level diversity. This approach to looking at diversity is mainly focused on race/ethnicity, gender, age etc. (Gonzalez & Denisi, 2009). Therefore, surface-level diversity is often easily

observable (e.g. nationality, language).

Another way of looking at ethnic diversity is the deep-level diversity. This type of diversity involves looking at individual differences at a psychological level (e.g. personality traits, norms, values, attitudes etc.) (Harrison, Price, Gavin & Florey, 2002). Since this deals with cultural values and norms and often hidden features, it is more difficult to identify and address than surface-level diversity (Distefano & Maznevski, 2000).

2.3 Diversity theories

Much of the existing literature provide theories about ethnic diversity that can be clustered into three separate theories. These theories are the social identification and categorization theory, similarity/attraction theory, and information and decision-making theory (Pitts & Jarry, 2007; Mohammed & Angell, 2004; Gonzales & Denisi,

(13)

13

2009; Harrison et al., 2002). However, some scholars tend to view categorization and similarity/attraction more as one because of their similarities (Van Knippenberg et al., 2004; Van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2006). Nonetheless, the three theories will be explained separately in this section.

The social identification and categorization theory suggests that people separate themselves from other members when they perceive dissimilarities between other members (Mohammed & Angell, 2004). It is assumed that people aim for a high self-esteem by comparing themselves with other individuals. In turn, people

categorize themselves and others along a spectrum of categories (e.g. ethnicity, gender). To assure a high self-esteem, people tend to view the category to which they belong as good (in-group), while viewing other categories as bad (out-group) (Pitts & Jarry, 2007). Because much of this categorization is based on physical appearances, it leads to a biased evaluation of individuals with different ethnic backgrounds, resulting in negative stereotyping when other individuals are perceived as belonging to the out-group (Pitts & Jarry, 2007). From this, conflicts are more likely to occur causing negative effects on the team and operational performance (Mohammed & Angell, 2004). The social identification and categorization theory is closely related to the before mentioned surface-level diversity as both indicate a focus on (dis)similarities with other individuals often based on physical characteristics (Harrison et al., 2002). Therefore, social identification and categorization predicts that surface-level diversity brings detrimental effects to performance.

The similarity/attraction theory suggests that people tend to be attracted to similar people so that their own values and beliefs are reinforced (Mohammed & Angell, 2004; Pitts & Jarry, 2007). People with the same background may have more in common with each other and they may feel more comfortable around each other. On the other hand, comfort levels around people who are less similar are lower. As a result, these people feel less attracted to each other leading to less communication and more communication error (Pitts & Jarry, 2007). Therefore, this theory leads to the prediction that there is a negative relationship between ethnic diverse teams and performance (Gonzalez & Denisi, 2009; Bezrukova, Jehn, Zanutto & Thatcher, 2009). Whereas the social identification and categorization theory is closely linked to

surface-level diversity, the similarity/attraction theory is closely linked to deep-level diversity because it is presumed that the underlying differences between individuals in

(14)

14

their personalities and attributes are the basis for the similarity/attraction theory (Harrison et al., 2002).

Furthermore, when considering relationships over time, this relation between the similarity/attraction and deep-level theory becomes especially clear. Perceptions about different individuals may change with time as people obtain more knowledge about each other's psychological characteristics (Mohammed & Angell, 2004). Therefore, Harrison et al. (2002) found that as time passes, deep-level features become more important than surface-level features as interaction between different individuals may lead to a change in perception. The similarity/attraction theory complements the categorization theory in the sense that both indicate a preference to work with similar people (Van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007).

The third and the last of the three theory streams is the information and

decision-making theory. This theory suggests that a heterogeneous composition of the ethnic diverse workgroup results in more creativity and a larger knowledge pool (Pitts & Jarry, 2007). As a result, decision-making may be improved (Leslie, 2017). This is because group diversity brings along different information, knowledge and different perspectives (Van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007). Therefore, it is found that the information and decision-making theory generally contributes to better performance. In fact, the detrimental effects explained by the previous mentioned social

identification/categorization theory and the similarity/attraction theory may be offset by the benefits of the improved creativity and larger knowledge pool (Pitts & Jarry, 2007).

On the other hand, Van Knippenberg et al. (2004) found the opposite to be true, stating that bias leads to less communication between different individuals. As a result, group information processing and therefore decision making is hindered because larger knowledge pools are rendered useless if individuals are less willing to communicate with each other. Therefore, Van Knippenberg et al. (2004) suggest that categorization and decision-making processes interact. Failing to cooperate and making team decisions fosters value destruction instead of value creation (Distefano & Maznevski, 2000).

However, according to the categorization-elaboration model (CEM), bias can also be prevented (Mayo, Van Knippenberg, Guillén & Firfiray, 2016). This model suggests that there are three responses to ethnic diversity from a categorization perspective.

(15)

15

The first response is the "diversity-blind" response. With this response, ethnic differences "do not invite the cognitive activation of gender or race categories" (Mayo et al., 2016). This implies that no difference between individuals is perceived based on race alone.

The second response is the "intergroup-biased response". With this response, ethnic differences do invite the cognitive activation of race categories, resulting in intergroup bias (Mayo et al., 2016). This implies that differences between individuals are perceived based on race alone, resulting in negative stereotyping.

The third and last response is the "multicultural" response. With this response, ethnic differences also lead to the cognitive activation of race categories. However, positive team characteristics are perceived instead of negative ones (Mayo et al., 2016).

It was found that the intergroup-biased response is the least favourable response whereas the other two have more favourable effects. A diversity-blind response has favourable effects because intergroup bias is mitigated by suppressing categorization (Mayo et al., 2016). However, this also decreases proactive

engagement with diversity as an informational resource (Mayo et al., 2016) which results in detrimental effects on decision-making. Multicultural responses are the most favourable in preventing negative effects of ethnic diversity because diversity is recognized positively (Mayo et al., 2016).

It is assumed that there are certain factors that have an influence on these theories. Since this thesis is largely focused on the leader of an ethnic diverse workforce, the influence of the leader's behaviour will be studied. More specifically the effects of the leader's behaviour on preventing the negative effect of bias in the ethnic diverse workforce will be considered. Also, the similarity/attraction theory is often viewed as complementary to the categorization theory. This thesis will adopt the same approach and focus on categorization (complemented by similarity/attraction) and its interaction with the decision-making theory as indicators of bias. This leads to the second sub-question:

SQ2: How does a leader's behaviour influence bias in the context of an ethnic diverse workforce?

(16)

16

This is an important sub-question since it helps provide insight of how personality traits can ultimately lead to bias in the ethnic diverse workforce.

2.4 Leader behaviour and perception of inclusion

Inclusion was found to be important to individuals and to an organization (Randel et al., 2016). This is because inclusion and exclusion are related to self-esteem, depressions, anxiety and satisfaction which all play a role in an individual's motivation and behaviour (Cottrill, Lopez & Hoffman, 2014). Shore et al. (2011) suggested that leaders have an important role in creating an inclusive environment. In addition, several other researchers have found that the leader's behaviour is of great influence on how inclusion is perceived by the workforce based on how they are treated (Podsiadlowski, Gröschke, Kogler, Springer & Van der Zee, 2013; Cottrill et al., 2014; Randel et al., 2016). To find out how leaders influence the perception of inclusion, a definition of inclusion must first be given.

Over the years, inclusion has been studied by researchers who often defined inclusion in different ways (Shore et al., 2011). However, there were some similarities between the multiple definitions from which two main recurring themes were found. These two themes are belongingness and uniqueness. Therefore, inclusion is defined by Randel et al. (2016) and by Shore et al. (2011) as the "employees perceiving that they are esteemed members of a work group or organization as a result of treatment that satisfies belongingness and uniqueness needs", in which both belongingness and uniqueness must be experienced simultaneously in order to feel included. Based on this definition, Randel et al. (2018) found that inclusive leadership is a set of leader behaviours that has a focus on making team members have a high sense of

belongingness and uniqueness. Thus, this part of the thesis will emphasize on these two themes.

Belongingness refers to the need to establish and preserve strong interpersonal relationships (Shore et al., 2011). As the term might already suggest, members who experience a high sense of belongingness have the feeling that they are a part of the group (Randel et al., 2018). In order to achieve this sense of belongingness, people often choose specific groups in which they want to be accepted and to be part of (Shore et al., 2011).

(17)

17

Even though emphasis is often given to belongingness rather than uniqueness, it is still important to consider uniqueness because just having a sense of

belongingness leads to a lack of a self-worth (Randel et al., 2018). Uniqueness refers to the need to maintain a distinctive sense of individuality (Shore et al., 2011). In order to achieve this sense of uniqueness, an individual must possess distinctive individual talents. In addition, the individual must be acknowledged for his or her talents and their voices must be allowed to be heard and appreciated (Randel et al., 2018).

On the other hand, a low sense of belongingness and uniqueness which has been labelled as exclusion, has negative effects on the work attitudes and the psychological health of team members (Shore et al., 2011). Therefore, leaders must behave in a way that reinforces both belongingness and uniqueness. This is referred to as inclusive leadership. By reviewing existing literature, Randel et al. (2018) came up with a suggestion of five leader behaviours that could contribute to a higher

perception of inclusion for the team members. Three of the five behaviours help facilitate a sense of belongingness while the other two helps facilitate a sense of uniqueness. The three leader behaviours that help facilitate belongingness are: supporting group members, ensuring justice and equity and shared decision-making. The remaining two leader behaviours that help facilitate uniqueness are: encouraging diverse contributions and helping group members fully contribute. These behaviours will be explained briefly below.

Supporting group members is a behaviour that includes making members feel comfortable (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006). Leaders can exert this behaviour by showing support for members and their opinions (Randel et al., 2018). For instance, implementing a time slot during group meetings where the leader and members communicate their appreciation about being part of the group to each other, is a practice that increases the sense of community and support (Randel et al., 2018). Furthermore, the way that a leader's social identity interacts with his/her followers' identities is important to effective leadership (Gotsis & Grimani, 2016). Leaders can serve as a role model in the sense that group members replicate the leader's caring and accepting behaviour (Nishii, 2013).

Ensuring that justice and equity are a part of each member's experience is a second behaviour that contributes to a sense of belongingness. This includes a member's perception of being treated fairly. Therefore, looking at how other group

(18)

18

members are treated and comparing it to the own situation is also a factor that affects the perception of inclusion (Randel et al., 2018). To ensure justice and equity, leaders can create policies that help provide fairness and a lack of bias (e.g. checks and balances to keep track of work done) (Randel et al., 2018).

Shared decision-making is the last of the three behaviours that increase the sense of belongingness. More specifically, sharing power and letting the members have more input in making decisions is of importance. This can be achieved by asking group-wide consultation and providing chances to discuss different perspectives (Randel et al., 2018).

Encouraging diverse contributions helps create the sense of uniqueness (Shore et al., 2011). Leaders should be supportive of having different point of views. A way of encouraging diverse contributions is to create an environment in which different perspectives are acknowledged and accepted. This can be achieved by forming good relationships with individual members and make them feel comfortable expressing their own thoughts and perspectives (Randel et al., 2018). However, different views can create uncertainty and clash between members, so leaders should also be able to manage conflict.

The last of the five identified behaviours that contribute to a higher perception of inclusion is helping group members fully contribute. Some members (e.g.

introverted members, ethnic minorities) might be less likely to share their opinions while their opinions might be valuable (Randel et al., 2018). A way for a leader to make all members fully contribute is to let all members write down their ideas and share them. Also, leaders should make sure that no members feel like they have to hide their ideas (Randel et al., 2018).

In conclusion, the leader has an important effect on the perception of

inclusion. Therefore, the leader should act in a way that increases both the perception of belongingness and uniqueness. This can be achieved through the five leader behaviours that contribute to the perception of inclusion. As mentioned before,

existing literature has not adequately addressed how leaders' individual characteristics affect their behaviour and in turn the perception of inclusion. Furthermore, the model proposes by Randel et al. (2018) showed the direct effects of the five inclusive leader behaviours on the perception of inclusion. However, the effects of bias in an ethnic diverse workforce were not adequately addressed. Therefore, the last sub-question that needs to be answered to formulate a clear picture of how the leaders’

(19)

19

characteristics (Big five personality traits) affect their behaviour and in turn the perception of inclusion is the following;

SQ3: How does bias between the members of an ethnic diverse workforce influence the perception of inclusion?

3. Methodology

This thesis will be a literature review, using a vast amount of literature on personality traits, behaviour, ethnic diversity and inclusion. In this section, it will be explained how the different theories are linked by formulating an answer to the sub-questions presented in the previous section. After answering all the sub-sub-questions and linking them together, it is expected that the research gap will be addressed. This gap in the literature consists of two main shortcomings in the existing literature; little research has been conducted on the leader's behaviour that leads to a team member's perception of being included (Shore et al., 2011) and existing literature does not adequately address how a leader's individual characteristics might impact their behaviours and contribute to leading diverse groups effectively (Randel et al., 2018). In order to clarify the linkages between the theories to fill the research gap, a

conceptual model will be presented.

The conceptual model consists of multiple variables. The first variable is the "Big Five" personality traits. This consists of the five personality traits: agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism. (SQ1) First, the effect of these "Big Five" personality traits on the leader's behaviour will be studied by looking at all five traits separately with its respective effects on inclusive leadership behaviour. Specific attention and importance will be given to

agreeableness and openness to experience for a leader's characteristics because multiple researchers found that these two traits are the strongest and most reliable traits that determine behaviour when dealing with diversity. The leader's behaviours that will be studied are supporting group members, ensuring justice and equity, shared decision-making, encouraging diverse contributions, and helping group members fully contribute. (SQ2) These behaviours will also be taken as separate and its respective

(20)

20

effects on bias in the context of ethnic diversity will be studied. For bias, the streams of diversity theories (categorization and its interaction with decision-making) will be used because these theories are foundational for linking ethnic diversity and

group/organizational outcomes (Pitts & Jarry, 2007). (SQ3) Finally, the effects of bias on the perception of inclusion will be considered.

Using the sub-questions as guidelines and the model as an illustration of the research, the effects of a leader's personality traits on an ethnic diverse workforce's perception of inclusion can be determined. Whereas previous literature provided the effect of leader behaviour on perception of inclusion directly, this model addresses the effect of leader behaviour on perception of inclusion with the effect of bias in the ethnic diverse workforce more. This way, the effect of a leader's behaviour is found through multiple channels.

Leader Personality Trait: - Agreeableness - Openness to experience - Extraversion - Conscientiousness - Neuroticism Leader Behaviour: (SQ1) Perception of Inclusion Ethnic Diversity Bias (SQ2) (SQ3) Belongingness: - Supporting group members - Ensuring justice - Shared decision-making Uniqueness: - Encouraging contributions -Helping members contribute

(21)

21

4. Results

In this section, all formulated sub-questions will be answered and linked together in order to find an answer to the main research question. This part will follow a logical order by first linking the five personality traits to the five studied behaviours. Then the effects of the five studied behaviours on bias in the ethnic diverse workforce will be studied. Following this, the effect of bias in the ethnic diverse workforce on the perception of inclusion will be shown. Finally, the research question will be answered.

4.1 SQ1: How do the "Big Five" personality traits influence a leader's behaviour

towards an ethnic diverse workforce?

In this part, the effects of the five different personality traits on the leader's behaviour will be studied. Each personality trait will be taken separately and links will be formed between the personality traits and the leader's behaviour.

4.1.1 Agreeableness and leader behaviour

A high degree of agreeableness is recognizable by kind behaviour and the understanding of other individuals (Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014). It was also found that agreeable people are more communicative and that contact with agreeable people is often perceived as positive (Jackson & Poulson, 2005). Furthermore, agreeable people are less competitive. Therefore, leaders with high degrees of agreeableness are likely to be supportive of group members and their opinions. This should lead to higher comfort levels around the group members.

Since, agreeableness indicates a decreased perception of differences between individuals (Jackson & Poulson, 2005), it should also help facilitate justice and equity. This is because people often compare their treatment with how their peers are treated. When the leader perceives less difference between people, it should also lead to team members experiencing more justice and equity.

Low levels of agreeableness are often accompanied with value for power (Sibley & Duckitt, 2008). Therefore, leaders with high levels of agreeableness perceive power as less valuable. Thus, shared decision-making should be less of a

(22)

22

problem to an agreeable leader because sharing decision-making and giving followers more input is in a sense an act of giving away power. This leads to the idea that high levels of agreeableness are positively related to behaviours that increases the feeling of belongingness amongst the team members.

Agreeable leaders are expected to be good at encouraging diverse

contributions because team members feel comfortable around agreeable leaders, which makes it easier for them to express their own thoughts and perspectives (Randel et al., 2018). But as mentioned before, these different views can also create clash between members. Therefore, leaders should also be able to manage conflict effectively. However, Antonioni (1998) found that managers with high levels of agreeableness have difficulties in standing up for their own interests in conflict

situations so high levels of agreeableness is not always desirable in conflict situations. Nonetheless, agreeable leaders may still be better at encouraging diverse

contributions.

Finally, because agreeable people are understanding, warm and cooperative (Antonioni, 1998), they should have less trouble in making members feel free to share their ideas, even though some members might be introverted. This leads to the believe that high agreeableness is positively related to helping members fully contribute. Although high agreeableness does not predict good conflict management, it does predict an increase in the sense of uniqueness among team members.

In summary, agreeableness can affect all five discussed leader behaviours in a positive way. Furthermore, as agreeableness increases through the life span (Roberts et al., 2006), it can be assumed that older leaders are more likely to affect the five behaviours through agreeableness.

4.1.2 Openness to experience and leader behaviour

Leaders with high levels of openness to experience befriend others faster because of their genuine interest in other cultures and different point of views (Jackson & Poulson, 2005; Flynn, 2005). The relation between the level of openness to experience and the behaviour; supporting group members (especially in diverse teams), should therefore be positive.

Also, high levels of openness to experience indicate less negative stereotyping of minority groups (Flynn, 2005). In the case of ethnic diverse workforces, this leads

(23)

23

to less prejudice and bias. Therefore, it is expected that the level of openness to experience is positively related to team members experiencing more justice and equity.

As high levels of openness to experience are indicative of interest in different point of views, it should be easier for these leaders to share decision-making as shared decision-making provide chances to discuss different point of views. This leads to the believe that high levels of openness to experience is indicative of behaviour that leads to a high sense of belongingness amongst the team members.

Since people scoring high on this personality trait befriend people from other cultures faster, good individual relationships can be build. As a result, the individual members feel more comfortable expressing their opinions and are therefore more likely to share their input. This helps group members, who might be afraid to express their opinions because of their different background, fully contribute as well.

Furthermore, open leaders prefer to hear multiple opinions to resolve issues in the interest of multiple parties (Antonioni, 1998) so they are likely to exert behaviour that makes all members contribute. Thus, openness to experience is positively linked to encouraging diverse contributions, but also to helping group members fully

contribute. This leads to the believe that openness to experience predicts an increase in the sense of uniqueness among team members.

In summary, openness to experience can affect all five discussed behaviours in a positive way. However, as openness to experience decreases at older ages (Roberts et al., 2006), it can be assumed that older leaders may have more difficulties in showing the five behaviours.

4.1.3 Extraversion and leader behaviour

Extraverts often have high social skills and confidence (Antonioni, 1998). They are assertive, optimistic, ambitious and influential. This makes it easier for them to be perceived as a leader (Özbağ, 2016). Because of this, communicating and expressing thoughts should be easier for extraverts. As a result of their influence and communicative skills, it is believed that leaders with high levels of extraversion are more effective at implementing policies that exemplify the five different behaviours. Therefore, it is believed that high levels of extraversion can positively affect all five discussed behaviours.

(24)

24

Considering changes in this personality trait over time, it was found that social dominance which is a facet of extraversion, mostly increases in young adulthood (Roberts et al., 2006). Therefore, it is assumed that older leaders will have higher levels of extraversion as they have already passed young adulthood. Thus, it is assumed that older leaders are more effective at implementing the five behaviours through this personality trait.

4.1.4 Conscientiousness and leader behaviour

Conscientious people are organized, disciplined and reliable and they like consistency and order (Tuncdogan et al., 2017; Moynihan & Peterson, 2001). An example of supporting group members is the implementation of routinized practices such as communicating appreciation about being part of the group during group meetings. Since conscientious people like consistency and order, it predicts that routine practices are likely to occur.

Conscientious people are also often attributed with a strong moral compass. This helps ensuring justice and equity as part of each member's experience as they hold the truth and honesty in high regard (Özbağ, 2016). However, conscientious people are found to be more conservative which indicates anti-immigrant behaviour (Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014). This is suggestive of the same attitude towards ethnic diverse workforces because of the pressure it can bring on consistency and conformity. These conflicting findings lead to the believe that conscientiousness can lead to either more justice and equity or to lower levels of justice and equity.

In addition, it was found that leader conscientiousness is positively related to team decision-making in which staff input is often considered (Moynihan & Peterson, 2001). This leads to the believe that multiple contributions are encouraged. However, because conscientious people are often conservative, different point of views may lead to the perception of inconsistency and order, which may result in the avoidance of this behaviour.

Considering changes in this personality trait over time, it was found that conscientiousness increases with age (Roberts et al., 2006). Therefore, older leaders may have higher levels of conscientiousness. As conscientiousness either leads to exhibiting the five discussed behaviours or the avoidance of some of the behaviours, it

(25)

25

is assumed that older leaders (with higher levels of conscientiousness) are more effective at both implementing and avoiding the behaviours.

4.1.5 Neuroticism and leader behaviour

Neuroticism is generally a negative personality trait to possess as it deals with negative emotions (Tuncdogan et al., 2017). It is indicative of anxiety, worry,

insecurity and stress. This suggests that leaders with high neuroticism often do not feel comfortable themselves and will therefore not be able to make their members feel comfortable. As a result, neurotic leaders are less capable of properly supporting the group members. Furthermore, the effects on the other inclusive leader behaviours is also expected to be negative because high levels of neuroticism are likely to

undermine the relationships with the individual members (Locke, 1999). However, levels of neuroticism tend to change with age as older individuals often have lower levels of neuroticism and higher levels of emotional stability (Roberts et al., 2006). Furthermore, neuroticism can also be changed through intervention (Roberts et al., 2017). In fact, levels in neuroticism was found to be one of the fastest changing among the five personality traits through therapy treatment (Roberts et al., 2017). This implies that the negative effects of neuroticism can be changed into the positive effects of high emotional stability. This leads to the believe that older people generally have lower levels of neuroticism. However, younger leaders can also decrease their levels of neuroticism and increase their levels of emotional stability (Roberts et al., 2017). This implies that both older and younger leaders can have a favourable amount of emotional stability.

4.1.6 Summary

Generally, the conceptual links that were made between the personality traits and the behaviours were positive. Some of the big five personality traits are more indicative of the five different leader behaviours while some personalities were suggestive of both negative and positive effects on leader behaviour. Older leaders also have different degrees in personality traits compared to younger leaders. Older individuals have a higher degree of agreeableness and extraversion and a lower degree of neuroticism, which is indicative of positive effects on the five behaviours. Their lower levels of openness to experience however, indicates detrimental effects on the

(26)

26

five behaviours. Overall, the differences in the personality traits indicate that older leaders should be more effective at implementing the five behaviours. This is because three of their five personality traits indicate a stronger positive effect on the

behaviours whereas only one of their five personality traits indicate a stronger negative effect on the behaviours compared to younger leaders. However, younger leaders can also develop more favourable personality traits through therapy treatment. Therefore, younger leaders have the potential to be just as effective at implementing the five behaviours as older leaders.

4.2 SQ2: How does a leader's behaviour influence bias in the context of an ethnic

diverse workforce?

In this part of the paper, the effects of the five different behaviours on bias in the context of ethnic diversity will be studied. Each behaviour will be taken separately and its effects on bias will be linked by looking at categorization and its interaction with decision-making.

4.2.1 Supporting group members

Supporting group members can be done by creating a comfortable

environment and showing support for members and their opinions (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006; Randel et al., 2018). By doing so, leadership effectiveness is increased because this caring behaviour can serve as an exemplary behaviour for the leader's followers. Therefore, it allows for team members to replicate this caring and accepting behaviour (Nishii, 2013). This suggests that team members will identify their own social identities with the leader's social identity which is important for effective leadership (Gotsis & Grimani, 2016). As a result of this behaviour, diversity-blind responses may occur in the ethnic diverse workforce. This is because team members do not perceive differences based on race as their social identities align with the leader's social identity, who is presumed to be positive towards ethnic diversity (Mayo et al., 2016). As a result, social categorization will be suppressed which leads to less bias and negative stereotyping. However, at the same time diversity is not engaged as an informational resource anymore which has a detrimental effect on decision-making (Mayo et al., 2016). Therefore, supporting group members

(27)

27

potentially has a decreasing effect on bias, but also a detrimental effect on decision-making.

4.2.2 Ensuring justice and equity

Ensuring that justice and equity are a part of each member's experience

includes making sure that team members feel like they are being treated fairly (Randel et al., 2018). By doing so, less differences can be perceived between individuals. Surface-level differences might still be present but deep-level differences become harder to perceive when everyone is seen and treated as an equal by the leader. An example of this, is that leaders can steer clear of planning meetings over drinks at a bar when teams consist of people who are prohibited to drink because of religious backgrounds (Randel et al., 2018). This takes away some aspects of deep-level diversity which leads to the believe that categorization may still occur because differences can still be observed at the surface-level. However, the closely related similarity/attraction paradigm may decrease because the leader can decrease deep-level diversity by ensuring justice and equity. Therefore, this behaviour has a similar effect as the behaviour of supporting group members. However, whereas supporting group members could potentially remove the perception of differences entirely, ensuring justice and equity helps mostly with removing perceptions of deep-level differences. This suggests that categorization might still be present but only moderately which implies that ensuring justice and equity leads to moderately less bias.

4.2.3 Shared decision-making

When leaders create decision-making practices, group members are forced to make decisions jointly. This gives ethnic diverse workforces the opportunity to discuss among each other about how to integrate different point of views (Randel et al., 2018). If the leader makes decision-making practices a group norm, the diverse team members will have to collaborate. This could potentially lead to collaboration between members who might initially be reluctant to work with each other because of bias. However, as time passes, deep-level diversity becomes more important than surface-level diversity as individuals get to know each other's personalities and attributes (Harrison et al., 2002). As the perception of surface-level differences fade

(28)

28

away, categorization will also be less likely to take place and thus bias will also be less likely to take place. However, deep-level differences will still be perceived but not in a negative way. Ethnic diversity will be positively recognized because of its informational value for decision-making. This is referred to as a multicultural response, which is the most favourable response for preventing bias (Mayo et al., 2016).

4.2.4 Encouraging diverse contributions

To encourage diverse contributions, the leader can create an environment in which different perspectives are acknowledged and accepted by the group (Randel et al., 2018). This acceptance of diversity should contribute to a decrease in bias. Therefore, encouraging diverse contributions has potentially similar effects as shared decision-making as both lead to working with different point of views. However, whereas shared-decision making is more focussed on the sense of belongingness, encouraging diverse contributions is more focussed on the sense of uniqueness among the workforce (Randel et al., 2018). When only considering encouraging diverse contributions as a leader behaviour to exhibit while neglecting the other behaviours, it may lead to bias in the group. This is because of its focus on uniqueness which refers to the need to maintain a distinctive sense of individuality (Shore et al., 2011). If all members feel this way, it is likely that more differences between individuals will be perceived, resulting in bias. However, if these differences are perceived as something positive, then it is more suggestive of a multicultural response which indicates lower levels of bias. Furthermore, bias can decrease over time as individuals get to know each other's personalities and attributes better leading to more positive attribution to differences. Therefore, encouraging diverse contributions can result in a multicultural response over time, which leads to less bias and better decision-making.

4.2.5 Helping group members fully contribute

Certain group members might not feel like their contribution is welcome. Leaders can help members who are less likely to speak up, because of their cultural background for example, to contribute (Randel et al., 2018). This could lead to new contributions and different perspectives from these people who would normally not be heard. These new and different perspectives increase the chance of perceiving

(29)

29

differences and categorization in which people with different perspectives are seen as the negatively attributed out-group. This could lead to more bias and negative

stereotyping. However, the same applies to helping group members fully contribute as to the previous discussed behaviour. If differences are perceived as something

positive, then it is more suggestive of a multicultural response which indicates lower levels of bias.

4.2.6 Summary

The conceptual links that were made, show that most of the five behaviours are likely to have a decreasing effect on bias while some behaviours are likely to have a moderate effect on bias. The inclusive leader behaviours; encouraging diverse contributions and helping group members fully contribute are likely to have different effects on bias depending on the individual team members. It was suggested that these behaviours could lead to bias when differences were perceived negatively. On the other hand, when differences would be perceived as something positive, then these behaviours would have a decreasing effect on bias.

All five leader behaviours were taken as separate and its effects on bias were argued separately. In practice however, it is unlikely that leaders exhibit only one of those five behaviours when dealing with an ethnic diverse workforce. Therefore, combinations of the five behaviours may also suggest different outcomes in bias.

4.3 SQ3: How does bias between the members of an ethnic diverse workforce

influence the perception of inclusion?

Inclusion in the workforce is important (Randel et al., 2016). This is because inclusion can have a positive effect on an individual's motivation and behaviour (Cottrill et al., 2014). As discussed in section 2, the five different inclusive leader behaviours directly contribute to a higher perception of inclusion. However, the effects of bias in an ethnic diverse workforce on the perception of inclusion were not adequately addressed in the research conducted by Randel et al. (2018). Therefore, the effects of bias between the members of an ethnic diverse workforces on the

perception of inclusion will be studied in this part of the paper (see Figure 1). As mentioned before, the perception of inclusion is defined as the employees' perception of being an esteemed member of a work group (Randel et al., 2016; Shore

(30)

30

et al., 2011). To perceive inclusion, the team members need to have a sense of belongingness and simultaneously a sense of uniqueness (Randel et al., 2018).

High levels of bias could prevent ethnic diverse team members from having strong interpersonal relationships with each other. This is because bias can indicate negative stereotyping and less attraction between team members (Pitts & Jarry, 2007). In turn, this leads to less communication which results in weaker interpersonal

relationships. Strong interpersonal relationships are needed to have a sense of belongingness (Shore et al., 2011). Therefore, high levels of bias can lead to weak interpersonal relationships and in turn to a lower sense of belongingness.

Furthermore, bias can prevent benefiting from diversity as an information source (Mayo et al., 2016), resulting in more detrimental effects because access to

information and connectedness to other members is essential for perceived inclusion (Cottrill et al., 2014). Therefore, bias in the ethnic diverse workforce is presumed to lead to lower levels of belongingness in the group.

High levels of bias can lead to less willingness to cooperate with people from different ethnic backgrounds (Mayo et al., 2016). As a result, this could lead to less acknowledgment and appreciation of these team members. People need to have the sense that they are acknowledged and appreciated for their individual talents in order to feel a sense of uniqueness. Since bias can lead to less willingness to cooperate with people from different ethnic backgrounds, this can also lead to a lower sense of uniqueness. Therefore, bias in the ethnic diverse workforce can lead to both a lower sense of belongingness and uniqueness, which is indicative of a low perception of inclusion.

On the other hand, low levels of bias or no bias can potentially lead to a higher sense of belongingness because ethnic diverse team members may feel less prejudiced and more fitting in the group norm. This is based on the idea that high levels of bias can lead to less willingness to communicate and cooperate with ethnic diverse team members (Mayo et al., 2016). As a result, the sense of belongingness in the group may increase. Furthermore, this could also lead to less exclusion of the ethnic diverse team members. As a result, these team members may feel more acknowledged and appreciated which is indicative of a sense of uniqueness. Therefore, low levels or no levels of bias may lead to a higher perception of inclusion.

In sum, high levels of bias in the ethnic diverse workforce may lead to lower levels of perception of inclusion. On the other hand, low or no levels of bias in the

(31)

31

ethnic diverse workforce may lead to higher levels of perception of inclusion, which can have positive effects on the workforce (Cottrill et al., 2014).

4.4 RQ: How does a leader's personality traits affect an ethnic diverse workforce's

perception of inclusion?

Now that all sub-questions have been answered by linking the diverse theories, an answer to the research question can be formulated and the literature gap can be addressed.

High levels of the personality traits; agreeableness, openness to experience and extraversion in a leader, can all be indicative of the five different leader behaviours; supporting group members, ensuring justice and equity, shared decision-making, encouraging diverse contributions, and helping group members fully contribute. As mentioned before, agreeableness and openness to experience was often found to be strong indicators of leader behaviours. However, by studying the personality traits and its effects on the leader's behaviour, it was found that extraversion could also be a strong indicator of behaviour. Especially because of extraverted leaders' effectiveness at implementing policies. This suggests that extraversion might just be as importance as agreeableness and openness to experience when it comes to these five behaviours. The two remaining personality traits; conscientiousness and neuroticism, were argued to have mixed effects and negative effects respectively on behaviour.

The inclusive leader behaviours; supporting group members, ensuring justice and equity, and shared decision-making are argued to have a decreasing effect on bias while the other two behaviours; encouraging diverse contributions and helping group member fully contribute, are argued to have either an increasing or decreasing effect on bias depending on the team members. Therefore, leaders with the personality traits; agreeableness, openness to experience and extraversion are the best at lowering levels of bias in an ethnic diverse workforce.

High levels of bias in the ethnic diverse workforce may lead to lower

perception of inclusion, while lower levels of bias may indicate a higher perception of inclusion. Therefore, the personality traits; agreeableness, openness to experience and extraversion in a leader, should indicate better effectiveness in creating a higher perception of inclusion in the ethnic diverse workforce. In addition, older leaders are potentially better at creating a higher perception of inclusion in the ethnic diverse

(32)

32

workforce because they are more likely to possess personality traits that are ultimately more favourable for creating inclusive environments. However, not only time and aging can change personality traits, but also therapy treatment can help develop more favourable personality traits. Therefore, it may not be definitively concluded that older leaders possess more favourable personality traits when it comes to creating inclusive environments than younger leaders.

5. Discussion & Conclusion

The aim of this thesis is to understand how the perception of inclusion is influenced by the leader's behaviour towards the ethnic diverse workforce. More specifically, focus is given to the leader's personality traits that drive this behaviour and its effects on bias in the ethnic diverse workforce. Multiple sub-questions were formulated and answered to provide new insights in this topic. The big five

personality traits; agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion,

conscientiousness, and neuroticism were studied as indicators of personality. Its effects on five leadership behaviours; supporting group members, ensuring justice and equity, shared decision-making, encouraging diverse contributions, and helping group members fully contribute were then considered. In turn, these different behaviours and its effects on bias between team members in the ethnic diverse workforce were studied. Finally, the effects of bias between team members in the ethnic diverse workforce on the perception of inclusion were highlighted.

5.1 Contributions

Shore et al. (2011) stated that little research has been conducted on the leader's behaviour that leads to a team member's perception of being included. Furthermore, how a leader's individual characteristics might impact their behaviours and contribute to leading diverse groups effectively, was not adequately addressed (Randel et al., 2018). This gap in the existing literature has been addressed by providing a

conceptual model in which both the effects of a leader's characteristics and the effects of their behaviour have been illustrated. From this conceptual model came several new findings which can be viewed as a base for future research.

(33)

33

The conceptual model linked several different theories by focussing on how a leader's personality traits would affect their behaviour and in turn how this directly affects the perception of inclusion in an ethnic diverse workforce. However, one main contribution of this thesis is that more emphasis was given to the indirect effects of a leader's behaviour on the perception of inclusion. This was done by looking at the effects of leader behaviour on bias between team members which in turn affects the perception of inclusion. It was found that the personality traits; agreeableness, openness to experience and extraversion in a leader, should indicate better effectiveness in creating a higher perception of inclusion in the ethnic diverse

workforce. Furthermore, it was found that older leaders are more likely to possess the personality traits that are more favourable for creating inclusive environments. However, not only time and aging changed personality traits, but also therapy treatment could help develop more favourable personality traits. Therefore, older leaders do not necessarily possess more favourable personality traits than younger leaders when it comes to creating an inclusive environment, as younger leaders can also develop favourable personality traits through intervention.

The finding that agreeableness and openness to experience predict a better effectiveness in creating a higher perception of inclusion and thus performance (Randel et al., 2016), confirms the results of previous studies. These previous studies found that agreeableness and openness to experience were the strongest and most reliable predictors of attitudes towards ethnic diversity, which in turn affects the perception of inclusion as found in this current study (Sibley & Duckitt, 2008; Jackson & Poulson, 2005; Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014; Ekehammar & Akrami, 2003). However, this current study also found that extraversion might just be as important as agreeableness and openness to experience because this personality trait enables leaders to implement policies more effectively.

5.2 Limitations and future research

Although this thesis brings several contributions, it also has several

limitations. One main limitation of this current study is that it is a highly conceptual study. The conceptual model that was presented, has not been empirically tested and many links between the theories have been based on other descriptive studies. Although the conceptual links that were made were based on existing theory, its

(34)

34

validity has not been tested. As a result, the validity of the conceptual model has not yet been proven. Therefore, this thesis should be viewed more as a theoretical base with different new insights for future research in the topic of ethnic diversity and the perception of inclusion. Thus, a suggestion for future research would be to test this model empirically.

Another limitation of this study is that the findings may not be generalized for all firms that deal with an ethnic diverse workforce. This is because this thesis viewed ethnic diversity as the difference between individuals on any aspect that can lead to perceive another individual to be different from yourself (Van Knippenberg et al., 2004), which is a broad definition. However, aspects of ethnic diversity such as the leader being an ethnic minority or the composition of the ethnic diverse workforce have not been taken into account. These aspects could yield different results. A suggestion for future research would be to view ethnic diversity more narrowly in more specific settings.

5.3 Conclusion

Little research had been conducted on the leader's behaviour that leads to a team member's perception of being included (Shore et al., 2011). Furthermore, existing literature did not adequately address how a leader's individual characteristics might impact their behaviours and contribute to leading diverse groups effectively (Randel et al., 2018). These two shortcomings in the literature have been addressed and combined in this thesis. A theoretical base has been presented in which the effects of a leader's personality traits on the perception of inclusion in an ethnic diverse workforce is illustrated. Nonetheless, this thesis has its own limitations which should be also be addressed in the future.

Ethnic diversity in the workforce is an important topic to study and to understand as a leader, as ethnic diversity in the workforce is still growing due to a globalizing society (Martin, 2014).