ORGANIZATIONAL DEMOGRAPHY AND CULTURE - INSIGHTS FROM A FORMAL MODEL AND SIMULATION

We review studies of organizational demography that show empirical rel ationships between the length of service (tenure) distribution and org anizational outcomes. Our theoretical reformulation of the typical exp lanation offered for these relationships posits a link between heterog eneity in the length of service distribution and heterogeneity in orga nizational culture. We examine the plausibility of this explanation us ing a computer simulation of a mathematical model. The model implies t hat the tenure-culture link is usually positive, as assumed by organiz ational demographers, but that the strength of this link varies by con text. The modeling effort also uncovered several limitations of the co nventional research framework. These include (1) the plausibility of s imple alternative explanations based on unobserved heterogeneity; (2) the inability to distinguish disruption effects caused by individual e ntry and exit from diversity effects based on internal social processe s; and (3) the conflation of several different hypothesized processes into a single variable measuring tenure heterogeneity. We develop and evaluate three alternative measures, each linked to a different social process.