Psychology News
A group of international researchers provided insights into the benefits of gender diversity in the workplace. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Study
The researchers were drawn from several academic institutions, including Michigan State University, Northwestern University, New York University, and the University of Notre Dame.
They evaluated millions of scientific papers published since the year 2000, in 45 different medical research subfields. Using an algorithm, they inferred the innovativeness of the research, the impact of the research, the genders of the authors, and how the gender-diverse teams contributed to the novelty of the research.
The Findings
The results revealed that work team diversity drives innovation in research and academia. In fact, it is found that gender-balanced teams or teams with more diversity and inclusion are 10% more likely to publish novel work than the base rate. Also, such teams are 15% more likely to be among the most highly cited papers.
One of the lead researchers, Teresa K. Woodruff, elaborated: “The ability to do these kinds of big data studies provides a prismatic view on the ways we understand success in the sciences and ways to work toward bigger impact. We all believe that diversity increases impact, and this new paper proves that statement, here through the lens of gender and scientific productivity.”
To Know More You May Refer To
Yang, Y., Tian, T. Y., Woodruff, T. K., Jones, B. F., & Uzzi, B. (2022). Gender-diverse teams produce more novel and higher-impact scientific ideas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(36), e2200841119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200841119
