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The Organizational Demography of Racial Employment Segregation

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  • SORENSEN, JESPER

Abstract

This article examines how workers respond to changes in the racial composition of their workplaces. An analysis of the job histories of new hires into multiple workgroups within a single firm reveals path dependence in the effects of group composition on turnover. Exit rates are inversely related to the level of same-race representation at the time of organizational entry, and increase when workers experience declines in representation. However, turnover rates do not decline in response to increases in representation. The challenge of workplace racial integration therefore lies not simply in eliminating discrimination in hiring, but also in managing the post-hire dynamics of changes in group composition. Implications of the asymmetric effects of compositional change for the literature on organizational demography are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Sorensen, Jesper, 2003. "The Organizational Demography of Racial Employment Segregation," Working papers 4300-03, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:mit:sloanp:3503
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/3503
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    1. Kimberly Bayard & Judith Hellerstein & David Neumark & Kenneth Troske, 1999. "Why are Racial and Ethnic Wage Gaps Larger for Men than for Women? Exploring the Role of Segregation," NBER Working Papers 6997, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    3. Carrington, William J & Troske, Kenneth R, 1998. "Interfirm Segregation and the Black/White Wage Gap," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(2), pages 231-260, April.
    4. W. Clark, 1991. "Residential preferences and neighborhood racial segregation: A test of the schelling segregation model," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 28(1), pages 1-19, February.
    5. Kahneman, Daniel & Knetsch, Jack L & Thaler, Richard H, 1990. "Experimental Tests of the Endowment Effect and the Coase Theorem," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1325-1348, December.
    6. Kimberly Bayard & Judith Ilellerstein & David Neumark & Kenneth Troske, 1999. "Why Are Racial and Ethnic Wage Gaps Larger for Men than for Women? Exploring the Role of Segregation Using the New Worker-Establishment Characteristics Database," Contributions to Economic Analysis, in: The Creation and Analysis of Employer-Employee Matched Data, pages 175-203, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    7. Schelling, Thomas C, 1969. "Models of Segregation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 488-493, May.
    8. Ted Mouw, 2002. "Are black workers missing the connection? The effect of spatial distance and employee referrals on interfirm racial segregation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(3), pages 507-528, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Shirley H. Liu & Frank Heiland, 2012. "Should We Get Married? The Effect Of Parents' Marriage On Out‐Of‐Wedlock Children," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 50(1), pages 17-38, January.

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    Racial Employment Segregation; Integration;

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