Diversity in the Workplace for Sustainable Company Development

Abstract

Approaches to the concept of workforce diversity have developed in recent years. This subject is now under continuous research by specialists in talent management. Simultaneously with the global tightening of COVID-19 restrictions, companies have been imposed upon to support an increasingly higher diversity, thus noticing corporate cultures stimulating communication, innovation, and superior yield results, attracting the best talent. This article analyzes the data obtained through research work targeting the understanding of companies’ orientation toward diversity in the workplace and the assessment of the policies necessary, focusing on four themes: motivation, innovation and creativity, leadership, and social responsibility. Each analyzed variable influenced diversity in the workplace from a significant level (3.33 for motivation) to a high level (4.00 for innovation/creativity and 4.00 for leadership, and 3.71 for social responsibility), showing a genuine interest in Romanian companies supporting diversity in the workplace.

1. Introduction

The requirements and conditions created by legislation regarding equal employment opportunities have stimulated change, making diversity a preoccupation for compliance and improving workplace communication and networking. In recent years, considerations regarding diversity have advanced from legal compliance to inclusion in the workplace [1]. One of the most significant concerns companies are facing is tied to the management of increasing workforce diversity [2]. This change can be attributed to an increasingly more profound understanding of the direct and indirect implications of diversity on organizations’ results sought for or achieved. Diversity has become a key compliance concern for employers since 1964 when discrimination based on the diversity of groups was highlighted. Requested by the civil rights movement, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in employment, i.e., in the workplace, based on race, color, national origin, or gender [3]. Title VII also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [4], a federal agency responsible for the administrative and judicial enforcement of federal civil rights laws. These regulations have fostered corporate awareness regarding the value of diversity in the workplace and have initiated essential changes in organizational behavior. For example, The McKinsey report found that organizations with more than 30% of their women in executive positions were more likely to outperform companies where this percentage was lower, between 10–30%. Thus, the greater the representation, the higher the performance obtained [5]. Diversity management has become a challenge for more and more companies due to women’s promotion to high positions in the public and private sectors [6].

Diversity is about combating and eliminating racism, bias, and preconception in the workforce at the organizational, national, and even international levels. The solution proposed by Hopf et al. is to adapt to the challenges faced by employees from a cultural and social viewpoint. Since then, the importance of diversity within organizations has developed and advanced [7]. The globalization of markets has made workforce diversity within organizations imperative. Governments seek to encourage diversity in the workplace in public services, primarily due to the existence of immigrants. However, its policies are being delayed by the COVID-19 crisis [8]. Even though a bibliometric analysis has been made on workplace diversity in the Asia–Pacific region, despite the importance of the field, no research has been conducted to provide an objective view of this field’s rapid development [9]. In order for organizations to properly serve consumers worldwide, they need to understand the needs of their market. As the market becomes global, the purchasing power of the various groups increases. Thus, organizations need to understand different worldwide perspectives to offer products and services sought for by consumers.

Given that the consumer market is expanding, consumer diversity is growing. Organizations must try to reflect such consumer diversity by creating diversity in the workplace by recruiting and supporting a diverse workforce. This management practice is known under various names, such as market reflection, workforce representation, or workforce diversity. As the borders between nations and societies break, we are falling under the haste of globalization. As this happens, we understand how different and unique we indeed are. Diversity is not just a staff-related matter. It became the central topic in the national dialog during this polarizing election season, wherein it was discussed more than the economy, the creation of jobs, the military, or taxes. The role of diversity in the workplace evolved from being a compliance approach to being sustained as an observance of business practice in the global market.

Differentiation between the two terms is based on perceiving the way that people are similar or different. Diversity is about the difference in ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, race and disability, lifestyle, marital status, a variety of cultures, physical features, religious beliefs, geographic location, languages, opinions, socio-economic backgrounds within any single population, and ways of viewing the world [10]. Diversity can be visible (based on attributes such as race, gender, or age) or invisible (based on attributes such as education, religion, or jobs) [11]. Workforce diversity is an approach that includes and supports diverse individuals in all companies’ positions by putting diversity and inclusion activities to use [12]. Understanding the practical use of diversity management in organizations is necessary to design and implement a workplace diversity curriculum, seeing differences as a source of value. Workplace diversity is more than recognizing and accepting that people are different. It is about promoting and encouraging inclusion practices. Creating an environment of inclusion is one function of diversity management [11]. Differences among people affect their acceptance, performance, satisfaction, or progress in a company; its objective must be to transform these differences into assets and make them sources of strength, not liabilities and weaknesses [13]. Why is workforce diversity and its management essential? The answer is simple: workforce diversity affects every HR function and outcome for every employee; this was the reason for conducting this research [13].

In this article, an analysis has been performed on the data obtained through research work targeting the understanding of companies’ orientation toward diversity in the workplace and the assessment of the policies necessary, focusing on four themes: motivation, innovation and creativity, leadership, and social responsibility. As the first element of originality, this study provides its contribution to the literature in the diversity management field through the perspective of human resources, creation, leadership, and social responsibility processes, as well as through the influence of these factors on diversity in the workplace. The second element of originality indicates a greater force of workplace diversity in achieving organizational performance, helping managers and employees perceive and understand the benefits that can be brought about in the long term through its implementation. The article is structured as follows: introduction, materials and methods, results, discussions, and conclusions.

2. Theory and Hypothesis

Organizations are currently operating in a globally competitive environment and are “forced” to do everything in their power to become and remain competitive. Organizations, however, sometimes make mistakes and practice less than positive behaviors [14], so they need to pay attention to employee satisfaction, which itself is crucial for organizational efficacy, efficiency, and the successful implementation of strategies [15].

Organizations can manage better diversity in the workplace by deploying pragmatic business practices and by developing and communicating the organization’s business case for diversity [16]. Understanding how to motivate the staff requires an understanding of how to manage diversity. Employees have their own experiences, beliefs, attitudes, values, and ways of thinking. Some employees might be motivated by financial rewards (performance wages and salaries, bonuses, benefits, cash rewards and cash prizes, fringe benefits, meal vouchers, payment of hours worked overtime, facilities of free accommodation, gratuity, holidays’ salaries, dividends, profit participation, payment of health insurance, unemployment, and life insurance) [17,18,19,20,21], while others are motivated by various non-financial advantages and benefits (offering an emotionally healthy environment in which to work, motivational speeches and e-mails of thanksgiving, better creativity, new viewpoints, stimulation and encouragement of the collective mind, the offering plaques, diplomas, medals, statuettes, trophies, the establishment of anti-corruption measures, good communication, empathy, feedback, and healthy competition, but also negative non-financial motivation such as suspension, dismissal, and punishment) [22,23,24,25]. To make things even more complicated, aside from the fact that each employee can be motivated differently, the motivation of the same employee may be different once they are older or when their role or responsibilities in the organization change. Rather than treating all employees alike, a good leader needs to understand what makes every employee unique. Leaders or managers should not assume that they know what works for everyone to do this. They need to pay attention to what employees say and do, which often reveals the ethics, direction, and passion for an employee’s work. Things are often simplified if the management has the initiative and openness to ask employees directly what encourages and motivates them.

Satisfaction in the workplace is essential to organizational success. Satisfied employees tend to work more and register higher workplace productivity and employee retention [26]. A study carried out in 2020 sought to determine whether work satisfaction varies from women to men or whether it varies between the majority and the minorities. The results showed no significant differences. Nevertheless, there are differences between sexes for the development function, with men registering a higher percentage for recognizing well-done work. At the same time, the share is higher for the majority than for minorities [27]. In 2021, research was carried out into whether diversity in work influences work satisfaction. The results showed that diversity increased work satisfaction. Both were influenced by the perceptions of employees being discriminated against on age, gender, and race, and the difference was even more visible when employees aimed at a leading position or had more experience [28].

Higher satisfaction often means less absenteeism and better mental and physical health. At the same time, satisfaction in the workplace can be linked to other employee key factors in terms of workload, stress, and a balance between home and work activities. However, inefficiently managed diversity can have long-term effects on employees’ productivity and satisfaction. Employees who feel more respected are much more committed to labor in the workplace. They are more innovative and more involved in the work environment. According to the authors’ arguments, when employees are more motivated, they are more open to accept workplace diversity, and, being constantly informed about their workplace’s diversity principles, they will be able to achieve better performance. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed.

Hypothesis 1 (H1).

Workplace diversity is positively related to a motivated workforce.

Organizations who act in this dynamic business environment are facing the need to foster an innovative work environment in order to obtain a competitive advantage and achieve better performance [28]. A study conducted in 2022 suggested that inclusion can be a real solution to the problems of discrimination in the workplace, using teamwork, participation, cohesion, and equal opportunities [29] to achieve increased innovation. Another 2022 study was linked to policies on diversity in the public and private sectors and on immigrants’ salaries. The results showed that working in mixed teams (as per diversity policy) reduces wage inequalities in the public sector, while language courses for studying that country’s national language increase wage inequalities in the private sector. There is an increase in pay differences based on occupied positions in the public sector, while no such increase is seen in the private sector [30].

The literature in the field presents opinions on organizational diversity grouped into two perspectives or attitudes [31,32]: the optimistic and pessimistic perspectives. From a positive perspective, a study can be mentioned in which the analyzed companies, separated into the three sectors of activity, have shown that workplace diversity is positively linked to their financial performance, and there are no significant differences [33]. From a negative perspective, a study showed that the analyzed companies were less prone to adopt policies related to diversity in the workplace, and thus their performance could be affected [34]. As an intermediate perspective, between the optimistic and pessimistic perspectives, there is a study in which it was shown that openness, experience, and friendliness positively influence the orientation toward diversity. Nevertheless, the first two are without pro-diversity beliefs and support for the working environment, and the third is with pro-diversity beliefs and with support for workplace initiatives [35]. The influence of personality, values, and cognitive abilities on the attitude toward diversity in the workplace was also measured. Only honesty–humility, extraversion, openness, and cognitive ability had a positive attitude toward diversity in the workplace [36]. When views on diversity differ, it is essential to specify that different contextual conditions may affect the perception and consequences of diversity. Labor diversity can trigger social processes with different individual and organizational innovation outcomes. According to the above arguments, as the employees are more open to accepting workplace diversity, they innovate and achieve better performance. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed.

Hypothesis 2 (H2).

Workplace diversity is positively related to innovative work behavior.

In a study carried out in 2020, attention was drawn to the policies regarding equality in the field of employment in the management positions of USA companies. The results showed that employment practices were positively associated with diversity only for low management positions and negatively with top management positions [37]. The diversity of the poorly integrated workforce can result in increased harassment and discrimination, or the emergence of inter-group conflicts [38].

Consequently, diversity and inclusion are usually associated with each other as organizational priorities. However, the idea of initiatives to support workforce diversity sounds easier than putting it into practice. Various factors could influence the success and failure of implementing diversity initiatives. Diversity initiatives remain a challenge, however. Contradictory approaches to managing diversity can lead to resistance or confusion among employees or stakeholders [39]. Even upon their establishment, organizations set clear objectives to expand diversity. However, there is little evidence of good practices in the field. The study’s authors note that work must be done to achieve diversity right from the recruitment phase; i.e., attracting minorities for the occupation of a management position [40], for example, using specific KPIs such as the percentage of women who were attracted to occupy a particular job out of the total job pool, a percentage of young or elderly recruited for a job, or a percentage of candidates attracted to the job based on religion, culture, or any other principle based on diversity.

The truth is that values, culture, ethics, compassion, and inclusion are not the result of an industry or a political system. These qualities radiate from the hearts of leaders who understand the people’s unlimited potential, and who understand that their success is based on the success of their talent, regardless of background, race, sex, orientation, or any other characteristic that defines individuals and makes them significant. Issues of diversity, especially gender diversity, need to be discussed continuously to explain how women will contribute to the work environment [41].

A highly dynamic and participatory workforce forms the basis of improved organizational performance [42]. The policies on diversity in the workplace are efficient if both the management and the employees support them. A study conducted in 2019 showed that discrimination causes inequalities (the study found that employees discriminated against on the grounds of sex, color, and race-black and Latina women are more interested in supporting company diversity-related policies than other non-discriminated employees) [43]. Other authors started from the idea that there is a connection between diversity and company performance. However, they sought an answer for the connection between diversity (in recruitment, between employees, and perceived value) and corporate ethics (internal and external). The results indicated a link between corporate external ethics and company performance [44]. According to the authors’ arguments, as the leadership is more implicated in developing policies based on informing and applying workplace diversity, the employees will more easily accept workplace diversity, and the organization will develop rapidly. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed.

Hypothesis 3 (H3).

Workplace diversity is positively related to leadership.

A significant change has taken place in the current environment, aligning social responsibility with companies’ commercial interests [45]. CSR is crucial because it builds customer loyalty and increases shareholders’ returns [46], contributing to the promotion of a green environment, diversity, corporate governance, and employees [47]. The implementation of CSR and ethical practices in the long run by any company is a critical factor for its survival and success [48]. In an inclusive working environment, employees from various environments prove their cultural skills by successfully understanding and collaborating with people who contribute with different ideas and perspectives. An inclusive workplace offers equality, respect, and opportunities [1]. A study has shown that cultural diversity, employees’ perception, and conflicts significantly influence diversity, and the latter, along with teamwork, significantly influences the organization’s performance [49]. In order to achieve competitiveness, managers need to shift from a vision based on the management of individual employee skills to the efficient management of organizational capabilities. Thus, the study carried out by Kwon and Jang pointed out that efficient talent management can be achieved through the analysis of differentiation on four axes: justice, ethics, internal competition, and diversity in the workplace. Organizations can confirm and appreciate the benefits of a diverse workforce, which is representative if they support an inclusive work environment. Instead, if an organization fails to create an inclusive work environment where employees do not feel welcome, the presence of diversity can inhibit performance [50].

While in the past diversity could also have the disadvantage of reducing the work teams’ efficiency due to the differences in the way individuals interact, employee hostility, or communication difficulties [51], now, in a world where the population of racial minorities is growing, women have different employment roles, diversity influences learning, intergroup behaviors, and social relationships, based on “us” not “they”, changing the optics and eliminating the idea of local employees, instead labeling them “global talents” [52,53,54,55], civic and organizational involvement [56], as well as workplace relations [57], innovation, financial performance [58], employment based on ethical principles [59], the existence of several talented candidates, a better customer relationship, the adoption of better decisions [60], the improvement of employees’ physical and mental health [61], the improvement of productivity, support for disability issues, the improvement of workplace attractiveness [62], the increase of employee welfare [63], the improvement of perceptions through the efficient communication and settlement of diversity issues, and the reduction of adverse effects by reducing the resistance of those employees who feel threatened by diversity [64,65] based on a solid corporate culture and social responsibility principles. According to the authors’ arguments, as employees and managers are open to communicating, having intergroup activities, and relating socially and economically, they will more easily accept a workplace based on diversity, and the company will achieve its development. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed.

Hypothesis 4 (H4).

Workplace diversity is positively related to social responsibility.

On the other hand, some employees feel less important to the organization because of stereotypes and preconceptions. As a result, labor capacity is lower. Leadership is essential in maintaining diversity in the workplace (through teamwork, mutual influences, and networking) and is important both legally and ethically [66]. Poor diversity management can have negative consequences such as reduced skills, motivation, and satisfaction of employees, which means less efficiency.

Another study carried out in 2021 mentions the role of employees as a vital resource for organizations and the focus on corporate social responsibility on the behalf of the business environment. The study focuses on the internal dimension of CSR (health and safety, human rights, training and development, workplace diversity, and work–life balance) with an influence on social performance. Results have shown that health and safety, workplace diversity, training, and development have positively influenced social performance, and human rights and work–life balance have no significant influence [67].

Supposing the organization does not consider the existence and importance of workforce diversity, this may result in a situation where the organization and employees no longer achieve their goals or exploit their potential [68]. Therefore, the importance of a human resources role in the context of well-managed diversity in the organization is stressed. Thus, workforce diversity is a necessary objective for organizations’ success in the current competitive environment.

Thus, the central hypothesis is held as a prerequisite for the validation of research results and is formulated as follows: In organizations where workforce diversity is supported, and anti-discrimination practices are enforced, the results felt in the motivation, innovation, creativity of the staff, the leadership’s activities, or in the field of social responsibility are prerequisites for increasing the performance of employees and the quality and productivity of their work. The field of study of this scientific approach is related to workforce diversity, gender diversity, and leadership.

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Sample and Data Collection

Diversity can be defined as recognizing, understanding, accepting, and valorizing differences between people in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, physical capacity, experiences, thought, etc. Companies need to embrace workforce diversity and look for ways to become inclusive organizations using collaboration, motivation, networking, leadership, empathy, trust, and effective communication. Globalization and demographic changes impose upon organizations the need to review their practices and develop new and creative approaches for workforce management. Positive changes can increase the organization’s performance and improve relationships with employees, customers, and the entire company. Therefore, today’s leaders are responsible for leading employees and meeting the needs of customers who are more and more diverse from an ethnic and cultural viewpoint. Diversity-related aspects need to be paid attention to. Whether the purpose is to be a valued employer, offer excellent products and services to customers, or to maintain a competitive advantage, diversity is recognized and used as an essential resource of the organization. The study’s main objective is to improve the performance of employees through the enforcement of healthy principles based on diversity in the workplace, rendering motivation, innovation, leadership, and social responsibility more efficient.

Data for the present research were collected from the South-East area of Romania. To do this, the authors selected different companies (according to size, number of employees, and cities, but from the same large area, and sex, age, and positions, as will be described below) to ensure diversity of the analyzed companies in the workplace.

Before data collection, the authors make contact with those representatives for an initial screening about diversity in the workplace.

The collectivity of the research is represented by staff with management and execution positions, respectively, within organizations in Romania, from various fields of activity and of various sizes in terms of the number of employees. The polling unit is the person in the managerial position, and who is in the execution position. A questionnaire was used to gather information, with 40 closed questions grouped into four topics with ten items per topic. Some of the items also include sub-items comprising organizational motivation, innovation and creativity within the organization, leadership in the organization, and social responsibility. The scaling technique used is the Likert scale, with respondents being asked to assess the extent to which they agree with the statements included in the questionnaire by responding with a score on a scale from 1 to 5.

The questionnaire was delivered to the respondents, both in the physical and online form, using the facilities offered by the Google Drive platform. As the questionnaire drafted on the Google platform was configured not to allow the answer to be sent unless completed in total, there were no such cases of partial answers. IBM SPSS Statistics 20 and Microsoft Office Excel programs have been used for the statistical processing of the collected data.

The study took place from September 2021 through January 2022. The questionnaire was sent to 600 respondents, but replies were received from 487 respondents, which means an important return rate of 81.2 The authors randomly selected some SMEs from the South-East area of Romania but covered different characteristics necessary for the study (

Table 1. A sample profile (N = 487).

Characteristics	Frequency	Characteristics	Frequency
Gender		Position
Male	307	Management
Female	180	Men	94
		Female	38
Education
Upper secondary education	108	Executive positions
Post-secondary education and apprentice school	100	Men	213
Hhigher education	180	Female	142
Post-graduate studies (master studies, doctoral studies, postdoctoral studies)	99
		Industry
Nb of employees		Agriculture	10
1–9	27	Architecture/Construction	10
10–49	201	Banking sector	26
50–249	167	Education sector	36
250–500	55	IT sector	15
Above 500	37	Legal/Judicial sector	7
		Mass media sector	5
Age		Production sector	213
Under 24	70	Health sector	11
24–34	137	Services sector	86
35–54	188	Transport sector	15
Obove 55	82	Tourism sector	16
		Sales sector	37

).

3.2. The Size of Research Sample

Thus, in determining the size of the research sample: (1) we took the share of population as parameter of interest; (2) the share of population considered was 0.5, the least favorable on which it could be found (p = 50); (3) we set the maximum admissible error to 0.03 (+/−3.0%); (4) a confidence level of 0.95 was allocated. By using the formula, we obtained the following pattern for the selection of the sample size used in the field work:

$$\mathrm{n}=\frac{\sum {\mathrm{hW}}_{\mathrm{h}}^2\frac{{\mathrm{N}}_{\mathrm{h}}}{{\mathrm{N}}_{\mathrm{h}}-1}\frac{{\mathrm{P}}_{\mathrm{h}}{\mathrm{Q}}_{\mathrm{h}}}{{\mathrm{w}}_{\mathrm{h}}}}{\frac{{\mathrm{e}}^2}{{\mathrm{k}}^2}+\frac{1}{{\mathrm{N}}^2}\sum \mathrm{h}\frac{{\mathrm{N}}_{\mathrm{h}}^2}{{\mathrm{N}}_{\mathrm{h}}-1}{\mathrm{P}}_{\mathrm{h}}{\mathrm{Q}}_{\mathrm{h}}},$$

(1)

where k is the value of the confidence level calculated using the normal distribution; e is the maximum admissible error interpreted as the difference between the population parameter and the estimator of this parameter: $\left|\mathsf{\theta }-\hat{\mathsf{\theta }}\right|$; h indicates the level at which we operate (determined by taking into account the first level and the weighting of the other levels according to size); W_h, the weights of each level, the levels considered in this case being uniform; N_h is the population size of each level; $\mathrm{N}=\sum {\mathrm{hN}}_{\mathrm{H}}$ is the population size; P_h is the share of the population where ${\mathrm{Q}}_{\mathrm{h}}=1-{\mathrm{P}}_{\mathrm{h}}$.

The internal consistency, the measurement accuracy, and the fidelity of the items based on Likert scale were tested using the Alpha Cronbach (α) coefficient. The test was applied to the entire set of items, these items being grouped according to the four themes addressed: motivation, innovation and creativity, leadership, and social responsibility in organizations. At the same time, the items of the mentioned themes also included items comprising sub-items; therefore, the Alpha Cronbach coefficient was applied to each group of items, separately. The internal consistency coefficient Alpha Cronbach can take values in the range [0; 1]. A value very close to zero indicates that the instrument generally measures only random errors, while the closer the value is to one, the more this means that the instrument measures the real score, and random errors are eliminated. Thus, the closer a Cronbach coefficient is to one, the more consistent the scale. The minimum threshold accepted is 0.6. Between 0.7 and 0.9, the scale is considered to have a good internal consistency, and a coefficient above 0.9 denotes an excellent internal consistency (Table 1). The coefficient’s calculation formula is based on the number of items and on the average of inter-item correlations. It is as follows [69]:

$$\mathsf{\alpha }=\frac{\mathrm{n}*\overline{\mathrm{r}}}{1+\overline{\mathrm{r}}\left(\mathrm{n}-1\right)},$$

(2)

where α is the correlation coefficient Alpha Cronbach; n is the number of items; $\overline{\mathrm{r}}$ is the average of inter-item correlations.

The exploratory factor analysis is used in the research conducted. With its help, it was intended to group together the items between which there is a dependency, and then to generate a theoretical construction, thus explaining the observed dependency. The items are analyzed and grouped according to the approached themes. The principal components analysis has as its fundamental principle the extracting of a minimum number of components to recover as much as possible of the total information contained in the original data, and such components should not be correlated with one another, each of these new variables being a linear combination of original variables. The principal components analysis (PCA) is one of the analysis methods of descriptive data which are applied quite often for quantitative data, being one of the factor analysis methods, but it also shows methodological features of the “conventional” factor analysis [70].

4. Results

Following the implementation of the questionnaire, we collected answers from 487 respondents. We then tested the internal consistency of the questionnaire. The Alpha Cronbach coefficient has registered values close to the maximum. All groups of items related to each of the four approached themes have registered an internal consistency in [0.8;0.95]. However, some of the items had to be removed to increase the internal consistency coefficient in some groups of items. It can be concluded that, overall, the proposed instrument has perfect internal consistency, and relevant results could certainly be obtained on the targeted subject, which is inherent to the questionnaire. Data exploration is used in any field where the amount of data is too significant to be understood. In the surveys covering many variables, it is not easy to group them to facilitate interpreting and understanding the analyzed data structure. The exploratory factor analysis and the principal component analysis, respectively, play an essential role, as they are methods that also serve as a theoretical basis for the other exploration methods.

4.1. Internal Consistency Analysis and Factor Analysis of the Items in the Theme “Motivation Inside the Organization” and Hypothesis Testing

The internal consistency of the set of items related to the theme “Motivation inside organization” has been tested by applying the Alpha Cronbach coefficient to the items grouped from QM1–QM9 (

Table 2. The items set for the analysis of staff motivation inside the organization.

Item Code	Items
QM1	I am satisfied with the training program made available by the organization
QM2	I am motivated to make the necessary effort in the workplace every day
QM3	I am satisfied with the compensation for my work, and I believe that I receive a fair compensation
QM4	I am satisfied with the career advancement opportunities available to me within the organization
QM5	There is good communication and close relationships between leaders and subordinates within the organization where I work
QM6	The management of the organization I work in recognizes the staff with good performance
QM7	I am satisfied with the work environment and workplace flexibility offered by the organization I work in
QM8	I am satisfied with the organizational culture in my workplace
QM9	The organization in which I work supports workforce diversity

).

After calculating the internal consistency coefficient for all nine questions, the value 0.892 (

Table 3. Internal consistency coefficient Alpha Cronbach.

Cronbach’s Alpha	No. of Items
0.892	9

) was obtained. This means that the items are linked to one other and that the internal consistency of the proposed instrument is good.

If we analyze the relationships between each item and scale shown in

Table 4. Alpha Cronbach coefficient relationships between items QM1–QM9 and the scale.

	Scale Mean If Item Deleted	Scale Variance If Item Deleted	Corrected Item-Total Correlation	Cronbach’s Alpha If Item Deleted
QM1	25.99	50.364	0.628	0.882
QM2	26.08	51.746	0.676	0.878
QM3	26.15	52.635	0.568	0.886
QM4	26.25	50.084	0.663	0.879
QM5	25.90	51.852	0.657	0.879
QM6	26.00	49.885	0.723	0.874
QM7	25.92	51.742	0.633	0.881
QM8	25.88	48.988	0.776	0.869
QM9	26.81	51.008	0.546	0.890

, we see that removing any item will result in a decrease of the Alpha Cronbach coefficient value (α = 0.892). Therefore, given that the elimination of any item will not lead to an increase of internal consistency, but actually the contrary, we have decided to retain all items.

An exploratory factor analysis was performed based on the correlations between the nine variables. The factor analysis has shown that the QM1–QM9 items form a unifactorial construct (

Table 5. The factorial matrix of QM1–QM9 ^a items.

Variable	Factor
	1
QM8	0.825
QM6	0.767
QM5	0.714
QM4	0.708
QM2	0.703
QM7	0.685
QM1	0.679
QM3	0.599
QM9	0.580

Extraction Method: Maximum Likelihood. ^a 1 factors extracted. 4 iterations required.

).

The factor strictly includes aspects of the motivation inside the organization and has a variance of 54.326%. The internal consistency of the set of items pertaining to the theme “Motivation inside the organization” was tested by applying the Alpha Cronbach coefficient to items grouped from QM101–QM110 (

Table 6. The items set for the analysis of staff motivation inside the organization; QM101–QM110.

Item Code	Items
QM101	Labor compensation
QM102	Recognition by the organization of work and effort
QM103	The opportunity to grow
QM104	Interesting and stimulating work
QM105	Conditions of the working environment
QM106	Organizational culture
QM107	Workplace flexibility
QM108	Open the organization towards supporting diversity of the workforce and gender balance
QM109	Communication between managers and subordinates
QM110	Respect received from the organization

).

By calculating the internal consistency coefficient for all ten questions, a value of 0.873 (

Table 7. Internal consistency coefficient Alpha Cronbach.

Cronbach’s Alpha	No. of Items
0.873	10

) was obtained. This means that the items are linked to one another, and that the internal consistency of the proposed instrument is good.

If we analyze the relationships between each item and scale shown in

Table 8. Alpha Cronbach coefficient relationships between items QM101–QM110 and the scale.

	Scale Mean If Item Deleted	Scale Variance If Item Deleted	Corrected Item-Total Correlation	Cronbach’s Alpha If Item Deleted
QM101	40.06	19.330	0.439	0.873
QM102	39.77	19.599	0.534	0.865
QM103	39.91	18.384	0.622	0.858
QM104	40.23	17.878	0.593	0.862
QM105	39.97	19.028	0.554	0.864
QM106	40.05	17.800	0.710	0.851
QM107	39.99	18.424	0.636	0.857
QM108	40.08	18.395	0.578	0.862
QM109	39.93	18.248	0.683	0.854
QM110	39.80	18.917	0.604	0.860

, we see that removing any item will result in a decrease of the Alpha Cronbach coefficient value (α = 0.873). Therefore, given that the elimination of any item will not lead to an increase of internal consistency, but actually the contrary, we have decided to retain all items.

A factor analysis was carried out based on the correlations between the ten variables. Initially, four factors having their own values equal to or greater than 1.00 were extracted. The orthogonal rotation of the factors determined the factorial structure represented in (

Table 9. Orthogonal rotation of the factorial matrix of the QM101-QM110 ^a items.

Variable	Factor
	1	2
QM107	0.804
QM108	0.717
QM104	0.684
QM105	0.586
QM101		0.993
QM102		0.606

Extraction Method: Maximum Likelihood. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. ^a Rotation converged in 3 iterations.

).

The first factor accounts for 33.577% of the variance and comprises aspects related to the working environment within the organization, such as the kind of work, the work team, etc., and the second accounts for 24.199% and concerns the appreciation of the work done by the employee within the organization.

After receiving the answers to the questionnaire sent, the aggregate answers required setting absolute frequencies. Then, based on absolute frequencies, we were able to calculate the relative frequencies. We continued by highlighting two of the most important indicators of the central trend, the average, and the median. The average is the indicator that shows the central trend of the series of values, and it usually shows where the data tends to cluster. Most of the time, the majority of values in the series is near the average, and a smaller part are far to the left or to the right of the average. As an extremely accurate indicator of the central trend of a statistical series, the average is a highly used indicator in statistics. In our case, we used a weighted average, as it is not as sensitive to extreme values, either very low or very high. Adding one value (or several) much higher than the others significantly changes the arithmetic mean, which is not the case for the weighted average. The average indicates the center trend when the series of values is symmetrically distributed around it and when the values do not have an exaggeratedly high scatter. For the series of values that are distributed very asymmetrically, the central trend is no longer indicated by the average but by the median. The median is an indicator of the central trend, i.e., it is the middle value in a series of values. To be precise, the median is that value in a series of values, for which exactly half of them are smaller than it and half of them are higher. As in the case of the average, the median is an indicator of the central trend, but it provides less information than the former. In balanced distributions, where the values in the series are approximately symmetrical to the left and to the right of the average, the average and the median are very close (

Table 10. The centralized situation of relative frequencies and central trend indicators of the respondents’ assessments pertaining to items QM1–QM9.

Item Code	Items	% Weighted Average Median
		Not at All	Very Little	Little	A Lot	Very Much	I Do Not Know	No Answer
QM1	I am satisfied with the training program made available by the organization.	10.9%	14.8%	19.9%	24.8%	24.4%	2.1%	3.1%
QM2	I am motivated to make the necessary effort in the workplace every day.	6.4%	15.4%	32.6%	31.4%	14%	0.2%	0%
QM3	I am satisfied with the compensation for my work, and I believe that I receive a fair compensation	7.4%	22.6%	23.8%	31.6%	14.6%	0%	0%
QM4	I am satisfied with the career advancement opportunities available to me within the organization.	11.3%	22.8%	23.8%	25.9%	16.2%	0%	0%
QM5	There is good communication and close relationships between leaders and subordinates within the organization where I work.	7.2%	15.6%	31.0%	27.1%	19.1%	0%	0%
QM6	The management of the organization I work in recognizes the staff with good performance.	9.2%	8.2%	33.1%	27.3%	17.9%	4.3%	0%
QM7	I am satisfied with the work environment and workplace flexibility offered by the organization I work in.	6.6%	14.8%	30.2%	30.2%	18.3%	0%	0%
QM8	I am satisfied with the organizational culture in my workplace.	5.1%	15.6%	26.7%	26.3%	23.2%	3.1%	0%
QM9	The organization in which I work supports workforce diversity.	24.6%	27.9%	8.0%	17.9%	10.1%	9.4%	2.1%

). At the same time, the average and the median are also used in combination to assess asymmetry. A median significantly different from the average indicates strong asymmetry, and a median very close to the average indicates a trend toward symmetry.

From an analysis of the results, it can be determined that only the training program made available by the organization (QM1) and the workplace organizational culture (QM8) received the best assessments from the respondents, proven by the median of 4. The assessments on the motivation to make the necessary effort in the workplace (QM2), the satisfaction with the compensation for work (QM3) or the opportunities for career advancement (QM4), the communication between leaders and subordinates (QM5), the fact that management recognizes the staff with good performance in the organization (QM6), respectively, regarding satisfaction with the work environment and with the level of flexibility in the workplace (QM7) are found in the middle of Likert scale, proven by the median of 3. Answers received under Item 9 indicate that there is little support for workforce diversity in the organizations where respondents work, proven by the median of 2, which is an indicator of the central trend of respondents’ assessments.

By achieving an average total score based on the maximum score obtained for the first influence variable, motivation, we get the following average score:

$${\mathrm{S}}_{\mathrm{motivation}}=\frac{1\times 2+4\times 3+4\times 4}{9}=3.33,$$

(3)

resulting in motivation in the workplace influencing diversity in the workplace between a little and a lot, with a score slightly above average (3.33 out of 5). Therefore, the conclusion is that diversity is influenced by motivation, but not significantly. Thus, H1-Workplace diversity is positively related to a motivated workforce, is fulfilled, having a score over the average, but not high. The conclusion is that the analyzed organizations must create a more motivated environment to increase workplace diversity.

4.2. Internal Consistency Analysis and Factor Analysis of the Items in the Theme “Innovation and Creativity Inside the Organization” and Hypothesis Testing

Calculating the internal consistency coefficient for all ten questions (

Table 11. The items set for the analysis of innovation and creativity within the organization; QI1–QI10.

Item Code	Items
QI1	The organization I work in shares its visions, objectives, and innovation strategy (new ideas for products, services, processes, etc.) with all employees.
QI2	The organization’s management members are a model in terms of creativity (they try new ideas and approaches on problems, etc.).
QI3	The organization encourages a proactive behavior and supports freedom of expression of ideas.
QI4	The organization I work in holds events, team building sessions, or training to improve team creativity and performance.
QI5	The work environment inside the organization supports creativity (good lighting, relaxing environment, clean, quiet, etc.).
QI6	The organization provides a satisfactory level of autonomy to the employees.
QI7	The organization I work in shows respect for individual diversity.
QI8	My work team is diverse (from the point of view of gender, culture, educational level, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, thought, etc. of the work team members).
QI9	The opinion and support of other colleagues have a positive effect on my individual creativity.
QI10	I am confident that I can develop creative ideas to solve problems and I am motivated to implement solutions.

), a value of 0.891 (

Table 12. Internal consistency of the Alpha Cronbach coefficient.

Cronbach’s Alpha	No. of Items
0.891	10

) was obtained. This means that the items are linked to one another, and that the internal consistency of the proposed instrument is good.

If the relationships between each item and scale shown in

Table 13. The Alpha Cronbach coefficient relationships between items QI1–QI10 and the scale.

	Scale Mean If Item Deleted	Scale Variance If Item Deleted	Corrected Item-Total Correlation	Cronbach’s Alpha If Item Deleted
QI1	31.33	64.486	0.586	0.883
QI2	31.34	59.991	0.790	0.869
QI3	31.36	59.522	0.786	0.869
QI4	31.77	62.943	0.562	0.885
QI5	31.33	62.532	0.607	0.882
QI6	31.62	60.526	0.728	0.873
QI7	32.09	62.460	0.529	0.889
QI8	32.03	65.527	0.485	0.890
QI9	31.53	63.429	0.602	0.882
QI10	31.31	63.379	0.661	0.879

are analyzed, we see that removing any item will result in a decrease of the Alpha Cronbach coefficient value (α = 0.891). Therefore, given that the elimination of any item will not lead to an increase of internal consistency, but actually the contrary, we have decided to retain all items.

An exploratory factor analysis was performed based on correlations between the ten variables, and an orthogonal rotation of the factors was required, which determined the factorial structure represented in (

Table 14. The orthogonal rotation of the factorial matrix of the QI1-QI10 ^a items.

Variable	Factor
	1	2
QI3	0.848
QI2	0.810
QI6	0.736
QI10	0.644
QI4	0.631
QI5	0.622
QI1	0.616
QI9	0.569
QI7		0.980
QI8		0.616

Extraction Method: Maximum Likelihood. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. ^a Rotation converged in 3 iterations.

). The first factor accounts for 39.298% of the variance and covers behavioral aspects of both employees and the organization that supports innovation and creativity, and the second one accounts for 17.614% and concerns the aspects related to workforce diversity within the organization.

The median of 4 of the assessments given by respondents in relation to the items shows that these aspects are of great importance, both in reflecting people’s responses, their views, and associating those assessments with aspects that shape the support for innovation and creativity inside organizations. Some of these aspects would be that the management members are a model for creativity (QI2), the organization encourages proactive behavior and free expression of ideas (QI3), and the working environment encourages creativity (QI5), but also that respondents are confident that they can develop creative ideas, being motivated to find and implement solutions (QI10). The items qualified in the middle of the Likert scale, with the median of 3, are those that relate to supporting diversity within the organization, either by offering a satisfactory level of autonomy to employees (QI6), respecting the individual diversity of employees (QI7), or by the fact that work team members are diverse in terms of gender, culture, education, age, thinking, etc. (QI8), (

Table 15. A centralized situation of relative frequencies and central trend indicators of the respondents’ assessments pertaining to items QM101–QM110.

Item Code	Items	% Weighted Average Median
		Not at All	Very Little	Little	A Lot	Very Much	I Do Not Know	No Answer
QI1	The organization I work in shares its visions, objectives and innovation strategy (new ideas for products, services, processes, etc.) with all employees.	7.2%	7.4%	23.4%	36.3%	24.6%	1%	0%
QI2	The organization’s management members are a model in terms of creativity (they try new ideas and approaches on problems, etc.).	10.5%	5.1%	24.6%	24.4%	32.2%	2.1%	1%
QI3	The organization encourages a proactive behavior and supports freedom of expression of ideas.	10.5%	5.7%	26.3%	23%	34.5%	0%	0%
QI4	The organization I work in holds events, team building sessions or trainings to improve team creativity and performance.	10.5%	19.3%	21.1%	24%	22%	3.1%
QI5	The work environment inside the organization supports creativity (good lighting, relaxing environment, clean, quiet, etc.).	7.2%	10.1%	24.6%	23.4%	33.5%	1%	0.2%
QI6	The organization provides a satisfactory level of autonomy to the employees.	10.5%	11.3%	27.1%	24.2%	23.8%	3.1%	0%
QI7	The organization I work in shows respect for individual diversity.	16.6%	17.7%	31.8%	13.8%	18.1%	2.1%	0%
QI8	My work team is diverse (from the point of view of gender, culture, educational level, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, thought, etc. of the work team members).	12.9%	20.7%	37.8%	12.3%	16.2%	0%	0%
QI9	The opinion and support of other colleagues have a positive effect on my individual creativity.	10.5%	6.8%	24.6%	33.9%	20.9%	3.3%	0%
QI10	I am confident that I can develop creative ideas to solve problems and I am motivated to implement solutions.	5.1%	8.4%	18.3%	33.5%	26.3%	8.4%	0%

).

By achieving an average total score based on the maximum score obtained for the second influence variable, innovation, and creativity, we get the following average score:

$${\mathrm{S}}_{\text{innovation and creativity}}=\frac{3\times 3+4\times 4+3\times 5}{10}=4.00,$$

(4)

resulting in innovation and creativity in the workplace influencing diversity in the workplace a lot, with a score higher than the first variable (4.00 out of 5); hence, the conclusion that diversity is influenced by innovation and creativity to a relatively significant extent. Thus, hypothesis H2-Workplace diversity is positively related to innovative work behavior, is fulfilled, the score being greater than motivation (4.00 compared to 3.11), but in this case not far from the maximum value. Again, for the analyzed companies, the management must discover specific methods for improved innovation from the employees.

4.3. Internal Consistency Analysis and Factor Analysis of the Items in the Theme “Leadership Inside the Organization” and Hypothesis Testing

The internal consistency of the set of items related to the theme “Leadership inside the organization” has been tested by applying the Alpha Cronbach coefficient to the items grouped from QL1–QL9 (

Table 16. The items set for the analysis of leadership inside the organization.

Item Code	Items
QL1	The organization I work in has established an efficient management system, as well as a performing leadership structure.
QL2	Leadership in the organization I work in supports the motivation of employees and increase of their performance.
QL3	Leadership in the organization I work in supports employee participation in decision making.
QL4	Leadership in the organization I work in supports team morale and builds an organizational commitment.
QL5	The management perceives conflict situations as sources of opportunity.
QL6	The organization seeks to establish the gender balance at the level of management positions.
QL7	The management takes into account and adapts quickly to the changes occurred or needed.
QL8	The management appreciates the different perspectives by supporting workforce diversity.
QL9	I trust the ability of the leadership within the organization to lead towards achieving goals.

).

After calculating the internal consistency coefficient for all nine questions, the value 0.855 was obtained. This means that the items are linked to one another, and that the internal consistency of the proposed instrument is good.

As regards the analysis of the relationships between the items and the scale, there are several items of which elimination would contribute to the slight increase of internal consistency (

Table 17. Internal consistency of the Alpha Cronbach coefficient.

Cronbach’s Alpha	No. of Items
0.855	9

). Even if both items QL5 and QL6 lead to the increase of the internal consistency of the item construct, we will resort to their gradual phasing out. As can be seen in Table 17, the removal of item QL6 would mean an Alpha Cronbach coefficient with the highest value, α = 0.873. After its removal, the Alpha Cronbach coefficient will indicate new values according to the new item construct, and then we will decide whether it is necessary to remove other items as well.

After removing item QL6, for the eight remaining questions the value α = 0.871 (

Table 18. The Alpha Cronbach coefficient relationships between items QL1–QL9 and the scale.

	Scale Mean If Item Deleted	Scale Variance If Item Deleted	Corrected Item-Total Correlation	Cronbach’s Alpha If Item Deleted
QL1	27.19	41.428	0.712	0.826
QL2	26.98	41.586	0.754	0.823
QL3	27.13	41.779	0.756	0.823
QL4	27.01	41.646	0.724	0.825
QL5	27.32	47.269	0.341	0.863
QL6	27.56	48.893	0.230	0.873
QL7	26.87	42.060	0.683	0.829
QL8	27.93	45.783	0.435	0.854
QL9	26.97	42.730	0.625	0.835

) was obtained. This means that the items are linked to one another and that the internal consistency of the proposed instrument is good, but there are still items of which removal would lead to the increase of Alpha Cronbach coefficient (

Table 19. Internal consistency of the Alpha Cronbach coefficient.

Cronbach’s Alpha	No. of Items
0.871	8

). The next step is to remove item QL5 and determine if it is necessary to remove item QL8 as well.

Making the centralized situation for leadership (

Table 20. The Alpha Cronbach coefficient relationships between items QL1–QL9 and the scale, after QL6 has been removed.

	Scale Mean If Item Deleted	Scale Variance If Item Deleted	Corrected Item-Total Correlation	Cronbach’s Alpha If Item Deleted
QL1	24.23	35.903	0.753	0.841
QL2	24.05	36.460	0.774	0.840
QL3	24.18	36.495	0.773	0.840
QL4	24.06	36.220	0.757	0.841
QL5	24.42	42.364	0.301	0.889
QL7	23.92	36.901	0.691	0.848
QL8	24.95	41.402	0.360	0.883
QL9	24.02	37.269	0.657	0.852

) resulted in obtaining the following frequencies (

Table 21. The centralized situation of relative frequencies and central trend indicators of the respondents’ assessments pertaining to items QL1–QL9.

Item Code	Items	% Weighted Average Median
		Not at All	Very Little	Little	A Lot	Very Much	I Do Not Know	No Answer
QL1	The organization I work in has established an efficient management system, as well as a performing leadership structure.	8.22%	14.79%	20.32%	29.16%	23.20%	4.31%	0%
QL2	Leadership in the organization I work in supports the motivation of employees and increase of their performance.	7.39%	13.76%	18.28%	35.31%	25.26%	0%	0%
QL3	Leadership in the organization I work in supports employee participation in decision making.	7.60%	17.24%	22.59%	27.10%	25.26%	0.21%	0%
QL4	Leadership in the organization I work in supports team morale and builds an organizational commitment.	5.13%	20.53%	15.81%	28.34%	30.19%	0%	0%
QL5	The management perceives conflict situations as sources of opportunity.	11.50%	19.92%	19.51%	30.39%	14.58%	4.11%	0%
QL6	The organization seeks to establish the gender balance at the level of management positions.	10.27%	19.10%	27.31%	19.30%	16.63%	7.39%	0%
QL7	The management takes into account and adapts quickly to the changes occurred or needed.	5.33%	11.70%	20.12%	24.85%	34.71%	3.29%	0%
QL8	The management appreciates the different perspectives by supporting workforce diversity.	12.73%	31.00%	21.98%	11.09%	13.76%	9.44%	0%
QL9	I trust the ability of the leadership within the organization to lead towards achieving goals.	5.13%	14.78%	19.10%	27.31%	30.39%	3.29%	0%

).

By achieving an average total score based on the maximum score obtained for the third influence variable, leadership, we get the following average score:

$${\mathrm{S}}_{\mathrm{lead}}=\frac{1\times 2+1\times 3+4\times 4+3\times 5}{9}=4.00,$$

(5)

resulting in leadership influencing diversity in the workplace a lot and having a score higher than the first variable and equal with the second variable (4.00 out of 5). Hence, the conclusion that diversity is influenced by the leadership, but this must build strong policies for HR and diversity and being examples for each employee to apply diversity at work and being motivated to do so.

4.4. Internal Consistency Analysis and Factor Analysis of the Items in the Theme “Social Responsibility Inside the Organization” and Hypothesis Testing

The internal consistency of the set of items related to the theme “Social responsibility inside the organization” has been tested by applying the Alpha Cronbach coefficient to the items grouped from QR1–QR9 (

Table 22. The items set for the analysis of social responsibility inside the organization.

Item Code	Items
QR1	How important do you think social responsibility inside the organization is?
QR2	Do you think that the presence of a person specialized in the field of social responsibility within the organization is necessary and that it would influence the smooth functioning of activities?
QR3	Is employee policy and relationship with the community part of the social responsibility of the organization I work in?
QR4	Does the organization I work in support workforce diversity, preventing discrimination and establishing of gender balance, in order to improve employee well-being and employment relationships?
QR5	Do you think that in the organization you work in, ethical policy toward employees, including support for workforce diversity as part of social responsibility, has a positive impact on employee satisfaction and efficiency?
QR6	Do you think that in the organization you work in, ethical policy toward employees, including support for workforce diversity as part of social responsibility, has a positive impact on the organization’s image and reputation?
QR7	In the organization I work in social responsibility is supported by leadership and recognized by all employees as one of the organization’s values.

).

Calculating the coefficient for all seven questions, a value of 0.826 was obtained. This means that the items are linked to one another, and that the internal consistency of the proposed instrument is good.

If we analyze the relationships between each item and scale shown in

Table 23. Internal consistency of the Alpha Cronbach coefficient.

Cronbach’s Alpha	No. of Items
0.826	7

, we see that removing any item will result in a decrease of the Alpha Cronbach coefficient value (α = 0.826). Therefore, given that the elimination of any item will not lead to an increase of internal consistency, but actually the contrary, we have decided to retain all items.

A principal components analysis has been carried out based on the correlations between the seven variables (

Table 24. The Alpha Cronbach coefficient relationships between items QR1–QR7 and the scale.

	Scale Mean If Item Deleted	Scale Variance If Item Deleted	Corrected Item-Total Correlation	Cronbach’s Alpha If Item Deleted
QR1	20.02	25.892	0.468	0.819
QR2	20.12	25.379	0.514	0.812
QR3	20.05	27.542	0.461	0.820
QR4	21.32	23.963	0.612	0.796
QR5	21.49	21.802	0.732	0.773
QR6	21.46	22.762	0.635	0.792
QR7	20.32	24.549	0.572	0.802

), using the Varimax with Kaiser Normalization method, which is based on the Principal Component Analysis method for the extraction and grouping of factors, with the orthogonal rotation of the components being required, which determined the factorial structure represented in

Table 25. The orthogonal rotation of the factorial matrix of the QR1–QR7 ^a items.

Variable	Factor
	1	2
QR6	0.959
QR5	0.950
QR4	0.940
QR7		0.866
QR1		0.854
QR2		0.846
QR3		0.624

Extraction Method: Maximum Likelihood. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. ^a Rotation converged in 3 iterations.

.

The first factor accounts for 39.741% of the variance and includes aspects related to the diversity of the workforce within the organization, and the second one accounts for 37.813% and concerns aspects related to the organization’s support for social responsibility. The analysis of the results shows that, once again, the items referring to the assessment of workforce diversity support are very poorly assessed by the respondents, with “Very little” and “Little”, as shown by the medians of 2 (QR5) and 3 (QR4 and QR6), respectively. Respondents believe that social responsibility is quite important for an organization, and it is assessed with “A lot” (QR1). The same applies to the fact that a person specialized in social responsibility is needed within the organization (QR2) or that the employee policy and relationship with the community are part of the social responsibility of the organization (QR3), or that social responsibility is recognized by employees as one of the organization’s values (QR7), (

Table 26. The centralized situation of relative frequencies and central trend indicators of the respondents’ assessments pertaining to items QR1–QR7.

Item Code	Items	% Weighted Average Median
		Not at All	Very Little	Little	A Lot	Very Much	I Do Not Know	No Answer
QR1	How important do you think social responsibility inside the organization is?	3.1%	8.4%	5.1%	32.4%	42.1%	8.8%	0%
QR2	Do you think that the presence of a person specialized in the field of social responsibility within the organization is necessary and that it would influence the smooth functioning of activities?	3.3%	7.2%	10.3%	31.2%	35.1%	12.9%	0%
QR3	Is employee policy and relationship with the community part of the social responsibility of the organization I work in?	1.4%	6.4%	13.8%	41.7%	32.6%	4.1%	0%
QR4	Does the organization I work in support workforce diversity, preventing discrimination and establishing of gender balance, in order to improve employee well-being and employment relationships?	11.7%	26.9%	22%	14.2%	10.7%	14.6%	0%
QR5	Do you think that in the organization you work in, ethical policy toward employees, including support for workforce diversity as part of social responsibility, has a positive impact on employee satisfaction and efficiency?	20.1%	27.7%	20.9%	8.6%	11.1%	10.5%	1%
QR6	Do you think that in the organization you work in, ethical policy toward employees, including support for workforce diversity as part of social responsibility, has a positive impact on the organization’s image and reputation?	22.2%	19.9%	26.7%	10.7%	9%	11.5%	0%
QR7	In the organization I work in social responsibility is supported by leadership and recognized by all employees as one of the organization’s values.	4.7%	9.2%	18.9%	31.4%	32.6%	3.1%	0%

).

The data on the four themes pursued, once arranged in a frequency distribution, provided important information on the population from which the sample was taken and on the various aspects of these themes.

By achieving an average total score based on the maximum score obtained for the fourth influence variable, social responsibility inside the organization, we get the following average score:

$${\mathrm{S}}_{\text{social resp}}=\frac{2\times 2+1\times 3+1\times 4+3\times 5}{7}=3.71,$$

(6)

resulting in social responsibility in organizations influencing diversity in the workplace a lot and having a score higher than the first variable but lower than the second and third variables (3.71 out of 5); hence, the conclusion that diversity is influenced by social responsibility to a significant extent. Thus, hypothesis H4-Workplace diversity is positively related to social responsibility is fulfilled, its score being above average, but under the maximum score (3.71 from 5). This means that analyzed organizations must create a more socially responsible workplace to have a more diverse workplace.

5. Discussion

This study adds to the existing literature on organizational performance to build a strong relationship between leadership and diversity, innovation and diversity, motivation and diversity, and CSR and diversity. Analyzing from a comparative international perspective, we have perceived different situations. However, all the people implicated in these situations (employees or managers) are aware of the negative impact on performance. They are willing to reduce the negative impact of the analyzed factors and improve performance based on diversity, but results are hard to obtain at the highest level. To survive change, organization leaders and employees must adapt to the circumstances and events around them [70], and due to competition and a lack of formal business regulations, they must do business not just for profits but also to pay special attention to the community according to CSR [71]. Due to business intelligence, managers can find new solutions to obtain sustainable performance and growth [72].

A study on USA companies (1592 firm–year observations) indicated that firms with highly individualistic states are less likely to adopt workplace diversity policies, affecting organizational performance [36]. Another study on the same topic, conducted in Zimbabwe regarding equality and diversity among male and female employees, showed that management perceives this issue with simplicity and takes it for granted, and so a lack of rigorous rules will lower the protection measures for employees [31]. A study in Canadian organizations indicated that employment counselors generally understand the advantages of applying workplace diversity. However, they are engaged more in supporting diverse customers than creating a diverse workplace for employees [73]. The research was conducted in Australia to determine the employees’ attitudes to workplace diversity. The results indicated that openness and verbal ability predicted positive attitudes toward workplace diversity, and that power and security are less associated [42]. A study performed in the USA regarding 3359 employees determined that working with employees from two different races showed that intergroup contact reduces the adverse effects for both races and improves co-working, performance, and acceptance [54]. A study performed in South Africa and included employees from financial institutions. The analysis (using different sexes, languages, colors, and races) was of their workplace diversity experiences and management. The results were promising, but some respondents perceive diversity implementation as time-consuming, costly, and forced on employees [74]. An investigation performed between 1975 and 2016 in Germany on the relationship between diversity and job switches indicated that workplace diversity is limited. Employees prefer to have co-workers of their own kind and a workplace less based on diversity [75].

A study performed in India in the ICT and finance sector analyzed the relationship between diversity and the well-being of employees. Results indicated that instrumental connections mediated the relationship between diversity and well-being, and expressive connections were found to not be associated with this relation; thus, developed policies must consider obtaining well-being as diversity is maintained in companies [63]. Performance is goal for companies from Cyprus, but a study was made to observe this relationship due to workplace diversity in recent years. The results show that diversity influences performance negatively, so managers must rethink obtaining individual performance by considering the decision-making process based on diversity [76]. A study regarding US organizations on the development of careers based on diversity showed that, in interviewing native and non-native English-speaking women, there were challenges in the advancement of career due to verbal misunderstandings or accent [77]. A study in the Dutch administrative field investigated the relationship between workplace diversity and innovation, resulting in a positive partial correlation [78]. The study analyzed the in- and out-group dynamics and the performance and inequalities of wages for minorities.

The results indicated that earnings were smaller for minorities (women and people of color). The policies companies must adopt must ensure equity among their employees to ensure positive performance for the organization. A study performed in South Africa, where there exists the most diverse workplace diversity, observed the conflictual state to improve a healthy workplace. The results indicated that a diverse culture complicates conflicts; less experienced persons are less preoccupied with this matter, and those with experience are under more pressure. If they are managed correctly, diversity could become not a source of conflict but a source of performance [79,80]. The number of foreign employees is also increasing in Japan, so data were collected from European and Taiwanese employees. Migrant employees’ experiences are perceived differently: for Taiwanese employees, the experience is that they are perceived as invisible, and the Europeans are perceived as visible. They are expected to behave like Japanese employees; the focus must be on skills regardless of nationality [52].

The empirical results of the present study made in South-Eastern Romania have supported all four hypotheses (H1, H2, H3, and H4). They have indicated that workforce diversity is substantial in influencing analyzed factors such as motivation, leadership, innovation, and social responsibility. All of the calculated scores are above average (between 3.33 and 4), proving that employees are well informed and open to a diverse work environment. They are conscious that performance means diversity and vice versa. Leadership mediates the relationship between these analyzed variables in analyzed organizations from Romania again. The survey respondents confirmed that between diversity and motivation, leadership, innovation, and CSR, there is a connection which is reflected in long-run performance. Leaders motivating their employees can display innovation. They can apply CSR and diversity policies based on honesty, trust, fair employment, and equal chances, emphasizing strong principles, not an a priori criterion.

Adequate policies and a strong interest in implementing these good principles will be a cornerstone in achieving sustainable performance for individuals, regardless of race, sex, culture, age, and organization. Workplace diversity is a field in its early stages of accepting, implementing, and enforcing labor laws. The desire and awareness to obtain performance on fundamental criteria and not a priori criterion increases among employees and management positions.

6. Conclusions

From the analysis of the research results, some basic ideas can be drawn about what is meant by workforce diversity, the management of diversity, and how the organizations in Romania address them. Some organizations have realized that initiatives to implement diversity policies and practices have a broader effect on them, their employees, partner organizations, and the community. A successful implementation of diversity policies and practices depends on several critical organizational factors. The steps are to define a clear plan of action, strengthen leadership commitment, and to establish the means necessary to implement and communicate diversity principles to employees, customers, and all other stakeholders. In such organizations, workforce diversity and inclusion are included in the company’s strategy, including setting goals, allocating funds and resources, and measuring performance. In these companies, diversity is an organization-wide concern rather than a human resource department concern. The active involvement of the top management and the engagement of managers at all levels is vital for the successful implementation of diversity initiatives. In addition, research results suggest that managers’ attitudes toward diversity can directly impact employee attitudes, work, and productivity. The more positive the attitude of managers toward diversity, the greater satisfaction of team members at all hierarchical levels, and the more substantial the organizational commitment.

This study offered adequate premises to accept the proposed research model from the four analyzed perspectives, the proposed hypothesis, and the relationships among variables. To validate different hypotheses of the present research, the authors used the internal consistency of the set of items related to each analyzed characteristic which has been tested by applying the Alpha Cronbach coefficient, relationships between items and the scale, orthogonal rotation of the factorial matrix, the variance, which includes aspects related to the diversity of the workforce within the organization and concerns aspects related to the organization’s support for the analyzed characteristics and centralized situation of relative frequencies and central trend indicators. By creating an average score for each analyzed characteristic, we can develop measures necessary to improve performance based on workplace diversity.

As can be seen, the obtained scores have shown increased interest in diversity in the workplace through the influences of the four factors analyzed. Thus, we can talk about a significant influence. Motivation with a score of 3.33 influences diversity the least among all four factors analyzed. However, above the average, the highest score is achieved by leadership and by innovation (4.00). Leaders are directly interested in applying diversity in the workplace by involving employees in developing specific policies and enforcing them to achieve long-term results. The other analyzed variable–social responsibility (score above average 3.71) indicates a significant score. The structural model results confirmed that the fourth hypothesis is accepted, but their score is not high and imposed some improvement measures. However, the performance can be increased by involving each individual and manager developing, implementing, and using good practices and clear regulations available to employees. Motivation having the lowest score is proposed to be implemented for financial motivation and especially non-financial motivation, considering the COVID-19 crisis and financial crisis. So, the HR managers must build a strong and positive culture, ethical behavior, equal opportunities, fair employment, opportunities for performing innovation teams, more viewpoints, and better creativity. However, laws bring the individual closer to implementing diversity in the workplace step-by-step and the organizations closer to achieving sustainable performances. Many companies recognize this and more and more consider diversity as an integral part of their management standards. At the same time, organizations with good diversity management practices also recognize the importance of corporate image and reputation. Moreover, engaging in a wide range of activities and initiatives helps to increase their external status in society and contribute to an understanding of the principles and values they wish to adhere to. Thus, the analysis of the methodological approach and the results of empirical research in the field of diversity management reveals both positive aspects and limitations. It has been the theoretical and methodological framework for issuing reflections, judgments of value, improvement directions, and further research in the field. The validation of work hypotheses in 91.7% leads to the assessment that the central hypothesis is confirmed.

The results of exploratory factor analysis showed that the analyzed organizations did not show a very high interest. However, it is above average and quite close to 4 (a high score), a significant score for implementing and supporting good practices in diversity in the workplace. The four factors through which the analysis was carried out led to robust results based on mathematical, econometric, and informational modeling calculations.

The research and the results obtained have led to the development of theoretical contributions such as the description of new concepts of performance in the workplace through diversity and their role in achieving individual and organizational performance. The empirical results led to the extension of literature, seeing from another angle that of achieving performance through diversity in the workplace, especially in a post-pandemic context.

As managerial implications, we can raise the issue that through the four processes analyzed—motivation, innovation, leadership, and social responsibility leaders, and managers could start from the premise of implementing diversity in the workplace through each separate individual to achieve organizational performance (as a special relation one-to-one relation like in customer relationship management) from a strong and implicated leadership perspective. This can be implemented through transparency, communication, collaboration, exchanging knowledge, expertise, skills, empathy, and teamwork. The road to a goal with so many positive results may not yet be paved with success, but we are going in that direction via promising results obtained through research. As benefits brought to the organizational level, we can mention the improvement of corporate culture, an increase in creativity, employee morale, retention, attracting talented candidates on performance criteria, not on discriminatory criteria, development of skills, knowledge, and transfer of knowledge through work in interdisciplinary teams, but also based on differentiation.

Limitations and Potential Research Directions

We believe that our research makes many contributions to diversity in the workplace. However, it also has some limitations, such as the fact that the conducted study needs further studies to analyze the influence of other factors on diversity in the labor field. However, the results can be used to do future research on domains or areas and can be taken over to assign them to other views or taken as a point of comparison. Another limitation would be the fixed scale between 1 to 5, which does not include each intermediate nuance between the fixed values, which could have shown nuanced differences between the influences of the analyzed variables. However, beyond these limitations, the elements of originality mentioned at the beginning of the study need to be brought forward, along with the fact that, in this phase, with the four influence factors, diversity in the workplace has never been researched in other studies. Variables such as CSR, leadership, recruitment, equal opportunities, job satisfaction, and financial performance have been discussed previously, but not the important factors such as motivation, innovation, leadership, or social responsibility, which could help improve communication in the workplace through diversity.