Research
My work asks when difference at work becomes a burden and when it becomes a resource, and what leaders and organizational climates do to tip the balance.
Citation counts and the most current list are on Google Scholar. Books, chapters, and conference papers are in the CV.
Featured papers, in brief
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Organizational burden or catalyst for ideas? Disability as a driver of cognitive flexibility and creativity
Employees with disabilities are often seen as a cost to be accommodated. This paper argues they can also be a catalyst for new ideas: a colleague with a disability makes a workplace’s imperfections visible and prompts coworkers to think more flexibly. In data from 7,037 employees in 425 units of a large German car manufacturer, units that included people with disabilities generated more ideas, especially when coworkers took each other’s perspective. Two experiments with more than 2,000 employees show the same effect, trace it to greater cognitive flexibility, and find that the ideas are also more novel.
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Receiving service from a person with a disability: Stereotypes, perceptions of corporate social responsibility, and the opportunity for increased corporate reputation
Many employers hesitate to put people with disabilities in customer-facing jobs because they fear customers will react badly. We tested that fear. In a field study with 317 customers of a large supermarket chain in Lithuania, customers served by a cashier with a hearing disability rated the company’s reputation higher than customers served by a cashier without a disability. A video experiment, which also included a cashier who uses a wheelchair, shows why: customers see the hiring as corporate social responsibility. The feared customer backlash appears to be unfounded.
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More than meets the eye: The role of immigration background for social identity effects
Does it matter whether an employee and a customer share an immigration background? Across two studies, we find that it does, and that immigrants share an overarching identity that spans national and cultural differences. In field data from 14,327 mail carriers in 737 units of a large Swiss logistics firm, customers complained less when both or neither had an immigration background and more when they differed, even after accounting for service quality. Units with more complaints also saw more short-term absenteeism and voluntary turnover, so unfair complaints cost organizations twice. An experiment with 262 participants in the United Kingdom replicated the immigrant identity effect and showed that it works through social attraction.
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Status matters: The asymmetric effects of supervisor-subordinate disability incongruence and climate for inclusion
When a supervisor and an employee differ in disability status, their working relationship tends to be weaker and the employee’s performance ratings lower. In a study of 1,253 employees in 54 work units, the relationship suffered more when the supervisor, rather than the employee, had the disability, which we explain through expectations about who holds status. An inclusive unit climate buffered this effect when the supervisor had the disability.
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Disentangling the fairness & discrimination and synergy perspectives on diversity climate: Moving the field forward
Diversity climate, employees’ shared sense of how their organization approaches diversity, has usually been measured as one thing. This review argues that it covers two different aims: ensuring fair treatment free of discrimination, and creating synergy from diversity. It also shows that studies often choose the level of analysis (individual versus team or organization) for convenience and mix attitudes into climate measures, and it sets out a research agenda to address these problems.
Journal articles
- Dwertmann, D. J. G., & Park, H. D. (in press). Linking basis of leader-member exchange differentiation to diversity climate and idea generation. Journal of Organizational Behavior. doi
- Dwertmann, D. J. G., Boehm, S. A., McAlpine, K. L., & Kulkarni, M. (2025). Organizational burden or catalyst for ideas? Disability as a driver of cognitive flexibility and creativity. Administrative Science Quarterly, 70(3), 655–694. doi
- Wu, F. Y., Udomsirirat, V. T., Dwertmann, D. J. G., & Oswald, F. L. (2025). Identifying macro-level disability-job fit to predict people with disabilities’ occupational representation: Leveraging O*NET and Census data. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 163. doi
- Dwertmann, D. J. G., Goštautaitė, B., Kazlauskaitė, R., & Bučiūnienė, I. (2023). Receiving service from a person with a disability: Stereotypes, perceptions of corporate social responsibility, and the opportunity for increased corporate reputation. Academy of Management Journal, 66(1), 133–163. doi
- van Knippenberg, D., & Dwertmann, D. J. G. (2022). Interacting elements of leadership: Key to integration but looking for integrative theory. Journal of Management, 48(6), 1695–1723. doi
- Dwertmann, D. J. G., & Kunze, F. (2021). More than meets the eye: The role of immigration background for social identity effects. Journal of Management, 47(8), 2074–2104. doi
- Dwertmann, D. J. G., & van Knippenberg, D. (2021). Capturing the state of the science to change the state of the science: A categorization approach to integrative reviews. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 42(2), 104–117. doi
- van Knippenberg, D., Nishii, L. H., & Dwertmann, D. J. G. (2020). Synergy from diversity: Managing the performance benefits of team diversity. Behavioral Science & Policy, 6(1), 75–92. doi
- Dwertmann, D. J. G., & Boehm, S. A. (2016). Status matters: The asymmetric effects of supervisor-subordinate disability incongruence and climate for inclusion. Academy of Management Journal, 59(1), 44–64. doi
- Dwertmann, D. J. G., Nishii, L. H., & van Knippenberg, D. (2016). Disentangling the fairness & discrimination and synergy perspectives on diversity climate: Moving the field forward. Journal of Management, 42(5), 1136–1168. doi
- Dwertmann, D. J. G. (2016). Management research on people with disabilities: Examining methodological challenges and possible solutions. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(14), 1477–1509. doi
- Boehm, S. A., Dwertmann, D. J. G., Bruch, H., & Shamir, B. (2015). The missing link? Investigating organizational identity strength and transformational leadership climate as mechanisms that connect CEO charisma with firm performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(2), 156–171. doi
- Baumgärtner, M. K., Dwertmann, D. J. G., Boehm, S. A., & Bruch, H. (2015). Job satisfaction of employees with disabilities: The role of perceived structural flexibility. Human Resource Management, 54(2), 323–343. doi
- Boehm, S. A., & Dwertmann, D. J. G. (2015). Forging a single-edged sword: Facilitating positive age and disability diversity effects in the workplace through leadership, positive climates, and HR practices. Work, Aging and Retirement, 1(1), 41–63. doi
- Boehm, S. A., Dwertmann, D. J. G., Kunze, F., Michaelis, B., Parks, K. M., & McDonald, D. P. (2014). Expanding insights on the diversity climate-performance link: The role of work group discrimination and group size. Human Resource Management, 53(3), 379–402. doi
- Baumgaertner, M. K., Boehm, S. A., & Dwertmann, D. J. G. (2014). Job performance of employees with disabilities: Interpersonal and intrapersonal resources matter. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, 33(4), 347–360. doi
- Dwertmann, D. J. G., & Stich, A. (2013). Mitarbeiter-Diversity als Marketinginstrument [Employee diversity as a marketing instrument]. Marketing Review St. Gallen, 30(3), 88–100. doi