본 논문의 목적은 선행연구들이 TMT의 다양성이 기업성과에 미치는 효과에 대해서 상반된 주장을 하는 것을 통합하고자 상황변수의 역할에 관해 연구하는 것이다. 이를 위해서 조직외부 상황변수인 ‘환경불확실성’과 조직내부 상황변수인 ‘TMT의 인접근무’가 TMT의 다양성과 기업성과 간의 관계에 미치는 조절효과에 대해서 분석하였다. 실증분석 결과, TMT의 다양성이 기업성과에 미치는 효과는, 안정적 환경에서보다 동태적 환경에서, 그리고 TMT 구성원들이 서로 멀리 떨어져서 근무하는 상황보다 동일한 근무지에서 함께 근무하는 상황에서 더욱 긍정적으로 나타났다. 이러한 연구결과에 대한 시사점과 미래연구 방향에 대해서 토의하였다.
Despite the continuing argument that TMT diversity is important for firm performance, empirical results have been inconsistent. Prior research has reported positive relationships, negative relationships, and even no relationships. Previous research has described TMT diversity as a “two-edged sword”(Milliken & Martins, 1996) or “mixed blessing”(Williams & O’Reilly, 1998). As such, TMT diversity can have both positive and negative effects on firm performance. The positive aspects of greater TMT diversity include generating a wider set of alternatives to decrease groupthink, predicting environmental changes more accurately to increase adaptation, and successfully implementing strategic choices through a more procedurally just process(Jackson, 1992; Kim & Mauborgne, 1991; Lant, Milliken, & Batra, 1992). The negative aspects include delayed decision-making, communication breakdowns, and interpersonal conflict(Greening & Johnson, 1997 Hambrick & D’Aveni, 1992 O’Reilly, Snyder, & Booth, 1993). If the functional aspects of TMT diversity dominate the dysfunctional ones then TMT diversity will havea positive effect on firm performance. On the other hand, if the dysfunctional aspects of TMT diversity arestronger, then we would observe a negative association between TMT diversity and firm performance.The dual aspects of TMT diversity suggest that the relationship between TMT diversity and firm performance cannot be unilaterally argued to be either positive or negative. Rather, the specific context will likely moderate this relationship such that it will become more positive in contexts that accentuate the functional aspects of TMT diversity and/or attenuate the dysfunctional aspects. The purpose of this paper was to reconcile the mixed findings in prior research for the association between TMT diversity and firm performance by examining the role of external and internal contexts. We argued that the effect of TMT diversity on firm performance is not identical in all situations but is rather strengthened depending on the particular context. we examined the roles of external and internal contexts for the relationship between TMT diversity and firm performance. With regard to the external context, we argued that environmental uncertainty moderates the relationship between TMT diversity and firm performance such that the relationship is more positive with increases in environmental uncertainty. Our results provide partial support for our argument. We found that environmental uncertainty acts as a moderator for the educational diversity/firm performance and the tenure diversity/firm performance relationships, respectively. In contrast, we found that environmental uncertainty does not moderate the functional diversity/firm performance relationship. Regarding the internal context, we argued that as TMT physical proximity increases, the relationship between TMT diversity and firm performance becomes more positive. Our results provide partial support for our argument. With respect to TMT educational and tenure diversity, we found such a moderating effect of TMT physical proximity. Our findings imply that providing the top team with the social context that increases behavioral integration is important for firm performance. Thus, along with the external context, the internal context is also critical for the TMT diversity/firm performance relationship. An important implication of these results is that increases in firm performance resulting from a more diverse top team with closer physical proximity are more pronounced in more uncertain environments. Overall, our study contributes to the literature by accounting for the importance of contextual variables when examining the TMT diversity/firm performance relationship.