Racially Congruent Leadership and Firm Performance: Evidence from Collegiate Football

We estimate the effect of racial congruence in middle management on firm performance using the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision setting. We first identify the effects of leadership representation on racialized minority recruitment into central positions. Subsequently, we evaluate the role of racial congruence among upper-middle (offensive coordinators) and lower-middle (quarterbacks) managers in the propensity for teams to participate in racially stratified strategic choices (racial tasking/task segregation). Most central to our inquiry, we identify the role of this racial congruence on firm (offensive) performance. Our results show that racially minoritized coordinators are more likely to recruit racially congruent quarterbacks; however, task segregation persists even in the face of racial congruence. Despite these persistent race-based strategic choices, racial congruence is associated with strong performance improvements. This effect is specific to racially minoritized pairs and is enhanced through traditionally racialized work tasks. The estimated effects are only positive in nature, and there is no performance-reducing effect of non-congruent pairings for majority race quarterbacks or coordinators. These results suggest that leadership representation can play an important role not only in improving organizational and managerial diversity, but also increasing firm productivity.