Racial and ethnic diversity and organizational behavior: a focused research agenda for health services management

Initiatives to reduce racial and ethnic disparities are conceptualized as a three-legged stool. Public policy: to ensure a legal and regulatory environment designed to eliminate disparities in access and health status; clinical practice: to ensure patient satisfaction and loyalty and improve treatment outcomes through the cultural competence of clinicians; and organizational behavior: to ensure that leadership, staff, and the culture of the health services organization represents and values the communities they serve. Our review of the health services and general management literature published since 1990 reveals a paucity of research on organizational behavior. Based on our review of health services and general management organizational behavior and racial/ethnic diversity literature, we offer an agenda for future research in this area. Factors that will facilitate or inhibit the pursuit of the proposed research agenda are also identified and discussed. The literature reviewed is mainly from the United States and the proposed research agenda results from that review, which presents a potential limitation to its applicability internationally.