This article aims to analyze direct and indirect impact of diversity management on innovative behavior through employee engagement and affective commitment. The sample used in this study comes from a survey of 225 respondents who are employees of one of the prestigious Mashhad universities. The data was gathered using a questionnaire and analyzed by structural equation modeling with Warp PLS 5. This research verified the direct effect of diversity management on employee innovative behavior. Moreover, results show diversity management predicts employees’ affective commitment and employee engagement. The impact of affective commitment and employee engagement on employees’ innovative behavior was also confirmed. The results show that diversity management, affective commitment, and employee engagement predict each phase of idea generation, idea promotion, and idea implementation. Based on this study, we recommend that human resource practices should institutionalize effective diversity management like training, employment, progression, and promotion. Furthermore, the high level of employee engagement and affective commitment could be considered by universities to increase innovative behavior. The current research addresses a gap in the current literature in the diversity management and innovative behavior context by employing different theoretical bases, including Social Exchange Theory and Institutional Theory.

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