The Impact of Workforce Diversity on Cross-Cultural Communication Competence and Task Performance of Employees in Multinational Companies in Ghana

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of workforce diversity on cross-cultural communication competence and task performance of employees in multinational companies (MNCs) in Ghana. The study employed mixed method approach. This includes the use of both quantitative and qualitative research method. Employees of some multinational companies took part in the survey as well as some managers were interviewed. 231 valid questionnaires were used for the quantitative survey analysis and 5 recorded and transcribed interviews were used for the qualitative analysis. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the quantitative data to address the hypothesized relationships whilst thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The study found that workforce diversity has a positive relationship with cross-cultural communication competence of employees in multinational companies in Ghana. The study further found that workforce diversity (age and gender) has an impact on task performance of employees while culture does not impact task performance of employees. The study found that the type of task given to employees also impact their task performance. This study concludes that workforce diversity has a positive impact on cross-cultural communication competence of employees and also has a relationship with task performance in the area of age and gender. However, culture does not have any relationship with task performance of employees. This research recommends that human resource managers develop diversity policies on how to manage diversity at the workplace and to develop cross-cultural communication competence of employees.