The Impact of Ethnic Diversity in Bureaucracies: Evidence from the Nigerian Civil Service

Imran Rasul and Daniel Rogger ()

American Economic Review, 2015, vol. 105, issue 5, 457-61

Abstract: We document the correlation between the workplace diversity in bureaucratic organizations and public service delivery. We do so in the context of Nigeria, where ethnicity is a salient form of self-identity. We thus expand the empirical management literature highlighting beneficial effects of workplace diversity, that has focused on private sector firms operating in high-income settings. Our analysis combines two data sources: (i) a survey to over 4,000 bureaucrats eliciting their ethnic identities; (ii) independent engineering assessments of completion rates for 4,700 public sector projects. The ethnic diversity of bureaucracies matters positively: a one standard deviation increase in the ethnic diversity of bureaucrats corresponds to 9 percent higher completion rates. In line with the management literature from private sector firms in high-income countries, this evidence highlights a potentially positive side of ethnic diversity in public sector organizations, in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa.

JEL-codes: D73 H83 J15 O15 O17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20151003
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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