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PurposeThis paper sets out to test the mediating role of internal network density and external network range in the relationship between educational diversity (i.e. separation and variety) and group effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachThe authors surveyed 267 employees in 54 organizational groups.FindingsThe study's results show that educational separation has a U‐shaped relationship with the advice network density. Moreover, educational variety moderates the relation of educational separation with external network range in such a way that for groups with high educational variety, the relationship between educational separation and external network range is U‐shaped, while for groups with low educational variety the relationship has an inverted U shape. The results also show that internal network density and external network range mediate the relationship between educational diversity and group effectiveness.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper extends the literature on group diversity by simultaneously exploring two forms of educational diversity (separation and variety) as they relate to group network density and external network range. The study is cross‐sectional, restricting causal inferences and future research should further explore the way in which the alignment of educational variety and separation relates to social network structure and group effectiveness.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the association between educational diversity and group social network structure and the way they relate to group effectiveness enables managers to improve group effectiveness.Originality/valueThe paper is one of the first to explore the curvilinear association between educational diversity and social network structure.Social implicationsBy exploring the relation between diversity and social network structures, these results increase understanding of how to address diversity issues at the societal level.

Many carers spend money out of their own pockets on the care-related needs of their family members or friends, and this spending may expose carers to a higher risk of financial hardship. Using data from a nationally representative sample of family carers drawn from Statistics Canada's 2012 General Social Survey on Caregiving and Care Receiving, we find that nearly one in five carers reports experiencing financial hardship. The results from multivariate logistic regression analysis show that care-related out-of-pocket expenditures are significant predictors of financial hardship. The results suggest establishing personal financial planning strategies and public policies to minimise the risk of incurring financial hardship due to care-related out-of-pocket expenditures.

Abstract Background Mental health outcomes vary widely among high-income countries, although mental health problems represent an increasing proportion of the burden of disease for all countries. This has led to increased demand for healthcare services, but mental health outcomes may also be particularly sensitive to the availability of social services. This paper examines the variation in the absolute and relative amounts that high-income countries spend on healthcare and social services to determine whether increased expenditure on social services relative to healthcare expenditure might be associated with better mental health outcomes. Methods This paper estimates the association between patterns of government spending and population mental health, as measured by the death rate resulting from mental and behavioural disorders, across member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). We use country-level repeated measures multivariable modelling for the period from 1995 to 2016 with region and time effects, adjusted for total spending and demographic and economic characteristics. Healthcare spending includes all curative services, long-term care, ancillary services, medical goods, preventative care and administration whilst social spending consists of all transfer payments made to individuals and families as part of the welfare state. Results We find that a higher ratio of social to healthcare expenditure is associated with significantly better mental health outcomes for OECD populations, as measured by the death rate resulting from mental and behavioural disorders. We also find that there is no statistically significant association between healthcare spending and population mental health when we do not control for social spending. Conclusion This study suggests that OECD countries can have a significant impact on population mental health by investing a greater proportion of total expenditure in social services.