Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Harnessing The Power Of Cliftonstrengths®: How Multinational Corporations Can Use Deep-Level Diversity To Enhance Organizational Inclusion, Trapper Kay Pace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explicitly investigated how multinational corporations can enhance workplace inclusion through the novel use of the CliftonStrengths® assessment as a dimension of deep-level diversity. The study gleaned insights from employees’ perspectives, employing a constructivist grounded theory approach to explicate their experiences in rich qualitative narratives. Through open-ended surveys and intensive interviews, participants were selected using purposeful sampling to ensure meaningful data collection from the study organizations’ three global regions. The researcher conducted the analysis systematically through the constant comparison of data utilizing the NVivo14 software to assist in constructing codes, themes, and a theoretical schema. Results highlighted the significance …

Measuring Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In The Child Welfare Workforce, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

QIC-Tips

Some child welfare professionals have stated that there is a critical need for systemic changes to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion, but where do child welfare agencies begin? Although change is never easy, the starting place on the journey to have a diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DEI) workforce is relatively simple. It starts with you—a child welfare supervisor, manager, or administrator. Start by considering what you think you know. Is your knowledge based on perception or data? What experiences shape your perceptions? What tools do you have to measure your workforce? Administrative data sets and surveys that gather both qualitative …

When Diversity Measures Are Nonequivalent: Advice For Practitioners, Kristen Denae Eggler, Jeffrey Olenick, Eric A. Surface, Jamie Ousterout

College of Sciences Posters

When addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion, researchers and organizations often focus on group differences in outcomes of interest. However, groups do not always interpret surveys in the same way, causing measurement nonequivalence. Measurement nonequivalence makes it difficult, if not impossible, to compare group differences presenting a problem for how conclusions are drawn. To better understand group differences in survey responding, the current study assessed measurement invariance across five diversity-related measures using the methods outlined by Nye and colleagues (Nye et al., 2019; Somaraju et al., 2022). Data were collected across three organizations (N = 732) from different industries (i.e., …

Enhancing The Representation Of Women: How Gender Diversity Signals And Acknowledgement Affect Attraction To Men-Dominated Professions, Thomas P. Depatie, Anmol Sachdeva, Comila Shahani-Denning, Rebecca Grossman, Kevin P. Nolan

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

While organizations around the world recognize the importance of gender diversity and inclusion, many struggle to reach gender parity (Sneader & Yee, 2020). Particularly, women account for less than 15% of all sworn police officers (Donohue Jr, 2020). Considering signaling theory and novel research in organizational impression management, we examined the utility of various recruitment messaging techniques for attracting women job seekers to professions dominated by men, at both a consulting firm and law enforcement agency. Women evaluating consulting firm materials perceived greater behavioral integrity and were subsequently more attracted to the organization if recruitment messages included both high gender …

Like Attracts Like? The Effects Of Anxiety, Implicit Bias, And Perception Of Diversity Culture On Team Attraction, Donna Yao, Melody M. Chao, Elizabeth George, Pritviraj Chattopadhyay

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

Past relational demography research has demonstrated the influence of demographic dissimilarity among employees on their work engagement and attrition. Little is known about how demographic dissimilarity affects individuals’ attraction to a team in the first place. The present research focused on the attraction component of the attraction-selection-attrition model to investigate factors that contribute to team attraction and their associated underlying processes. Specifically, we identified anxiety towards potential teammates as an affective response to cultural dissimilarity, which in turn influenced performance expectations and team attraction. We also examined implicit and explicit cognitions that might shape the impact of anxiety. To this …

Tell Me A Story: Exploring The Use Of Narratives To Reduce Backlash To Organizational Diversity Initiatives, Desmond W. Leung

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Diversity initiatives represent key priorities for many organizations, but research and recent high-profile examples suggest that diversity initiatives can generate significant backlash, particularly among organizational members. The primary aim of this study is to investigate how narrative forms of diversity initiative messaging may attenuate backlash among organizational members compared to more traditional expository forms of diversity initiative messaging. Drawing on research related to narrative communication, persuasion, and diversity, I proposed a first-stage dual moderated mediation model where psychological reactance and perceptions of realistic threat mediate the negative effect of narrative (vs. expository) diversity messaging on backlash. Additionally, I examined whether …

Sexual Orientation Diversity And Inclusion In The Workplace: A Qualitative Study Of Lgb Inclusion In A Uk Public Sector Organisation, Ashley Williams, Neill Thompson, Binna Kandola

The Qualitative Report

Inclusion has been identified as a key component of successful approaches to organisational diversity management. To date, the inclusion literature has predominantly used quantitative methodology to study visible forms of diversity such as gender and ethnicity. Invisible forms of diversity, such as sexual orientation diversity, have received limited research attention, despite Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) employees facing significantly higher rates of bullying and discrimination in the workplace than their heterosexual colleagues. The current study uses semi-structured interviews and template analysis to investigate LGB employees’ experiences of workplace inclusion within a UK public sector organisation. Findings demonstrate that LGBs share …

The Effects Of Team Surface-Level Diversity On Creativity & Innovation, Roman Mitchell

Faculty Publications

During the last 20 years, the global marketplace has become more competitive due to increased globalization, aggressive market competition, and changing customer demands. This has forced organizations to assemble teams with diverse knowledge, skills, and abilities to remain competitive. However, previous meta-analytic investigations examining the relationship between team surface-level diversity (i.e., race or gender identity), creativity, and innovation have indicated a small negative relationship. Despite the said positive effects of team diversity, theory and empirical evidence suggests that increased surface-level team diversity leads to decreased team collaboration, team cohesion, and diminished creativity and innovation (Bell, 2007).

This study explores the …

Using Agile Principles To Implement Workplace Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Best Practices, Jennifer Bernardez

CMC Senior Theses

Companies understand the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace and are willing to invest to achieve successful DEI results. Unfortunately, the results of these efforts have been inconsistent at best. Over the last twenty years, companies have successfully applied Agile principles to to achieve successful project management results. This paper describes how to apply Agile principles to DEI initiatives. Additionally, a practical model for achieving DEI results in the areas of hiring, onboarding, employee retention, and assessment, has been developed and is presented. Application of this innovative model will help companies achieve desired results from investments …

Can Gender Pronouns In Interview Questions Work As Nudges?, Fei Lu

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Dissertations

Organizations that are historically male-dominated have struggled to attract and retain an equitable representation of women (Debs et al., 2021; Germain et al., 2012; Hall et al., 2018) Using the two systems processing model from Cognitive Psychology, this study assessed whether gender pronouns can function as environmental cues (“nudges”) to disrupt the patterns of mental models on biases and stereotypes. It was proposed that participants can be “nudged” to decrease the impact of gender stereotype biases in the interview process in male-dominated professions (e.g., Information Technology) such that pronouns used in the interview questions will interact with the interviewee’s gender. …

Improving The Child Welfare Workforce Through Training: Common Questions And Evidence-Informed Answers From The Qic-Wd, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

QIC-Tips

Training is often the first intervention child welfare agencies use to address critical workforce development issues. This QIC-Tip aims to answer child welfare agency leaders’ questions about effective training strategies to increase knowledge, enhance skills, and improve job performance. Answers are drawn from the QIC-WD Umbrella Summaries which present a synopsis of the published meta-analyses of specific workforce topics.

What broad-based training approaches can improve employee learning outcomes and job performance?

Coaching uses a structured learning process, over time, to help the learner reach specific goals. Meta-analytic research on the use of professional coaches (not managers or experienced coworkers) …

Decoy Effects Improve Diversity Hiring, Nathan R. Kuncel, Jeffrey A. Dahlke

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

A growing literature demonstrates that when making choices among multiple options, decision makers are strongly influenced by the mere presence of additional options, even when those options are largely undesirable and are never actually selected. The effects of irrelevant options on decisions, often called decoy effects, have been observed in hiring and admissions decisions where the nature of a third candidate can radically shift preferences. In this study, we examine the influence of decoy effects on diversity hiring and extend research by examining choices with more than two organizational goals. Results indicate that the presence of a second candidate who …

Does Diversity In Team Members’ Agreeableness Benefit Creative Teams?, Sean T. H. Lee, Guihyun Park

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although deep-level diversity among team members are often discussed as important catalysts of team creativity, little is currently understood about the impact of diversity in team members’ personality on team creativity and team satisfaction. We propose that diversity in team members’ agreeableness would reduce the effectiveness of creative teams through its impact on team conflict experienced. To test our hypotheses, we recruited 93 student teams to participate in a laboratory study where each member had their personality traits assessed before engaging in a team creativity task. We found that diversity in team members’ agreeableness was positively associated with team task …

Understanding The Work Experiences Of Gender And Sexual Minorities: Advances, Issues, And New Directions In Research, Marc Cubrich

Psychology from the Margins

Our understanding of the histories of psychology and LGBTQ+ activism have only recently begun to become increasingly intertwined. Psychological science has been used to influence a number of domains including mental health policy, laws and judicial rulings, and attitudes towards social issues. While psychological science has advanced our understanding of these domains, there remains a need for research that examines the experiences of underrepresented groups (e.g., women, racial minorities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, etc.) across distinct aspects of their working lives. Issues of heterosexism, or anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes, prejudice, and discrimination, have received relatively little attention in industrial and organizational …

Diverse Teams, Team Effectiveness, And The Moderating Effect Of Organizational Support, Hannah Tilstra

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study adds to the growing literature on diversity in teams and team effectiveness. This study reviews the literature examining theoretical perspectives of diversity in teams, surface-level diversity attributes, team training and team outcomes. To test hypotheses, an archival dataset from a study focusing on team training, which is coded to represent the presence of gender and ethnic diversity on teams. Variables including team performance, shared mental models, and team behavioral processes are used to measure team effectiveness. The results of this analyses suggest mixed results, but do indicate that teams with diversity are more effective, particularly in measures of …

Examining Why And For Whom Reflection Diversity Training Works, Alex P. Lindsey, Eden King, Brittney Amber, Isaac Sabat, Afra S. Ahmad

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

This research introduces a novel approach to diversity training by theoretically developing and empirically testing a model that considers a new training exercise aimed at improving proximal and distal pro-diversity outcomes. This new training exercise, reflection, is proposed to be effective at increasing pro-diversity attitudes and behaviors due to the promotion of one's internal motivations to respond without prejudice. Further, we test a critical trainee characteristic, social dominance orientation (SDO), as a boundary condition of our proposed effects. Results from an online experiment with two time points indicate that reflection can be an effective diversity training exercise and leads to …

Framing Matters: The Influence Of Group-Image Threat On Reactions To Affirmative Action Policies, Kisha S. Jones, Anuradha Anantharaman, Anjali Bhatt

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

Affirmative action (AA) attempts to rectify the institutional effects of prior employment discrimination toward minority groups. Although AA has played a large role in increasing workplace diversity, organizations may vary in their perspectives towards diversity itself, ranging from a sole focus on increasing diversity to appreciating the value diversity may add. Support for AA has been considered as a form of White identity management (Knowles, Lowery, Chow, & Unzueta, 2014) and is impacted by the extent to which White people experience group-image threat to their racial identity. Our findings suggest that the level of group-image threat experienced by White people …

Double Jeopardy: What Is Mentorship And Diversity-Valuing On Perceived Competence?, T. Eva Kwan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Previous research has found that female managers and those who might benefit from diversity initiatives receive lower perceived competence ratings when they engage in activities that support or value diversity. Theoretically, this is supported by the role congruity theory, expectation states theory, and stereotype content model. This study sought to replicate these findings in the context of highly competent non-managerial employees and to examine the impact of mentorship on perceived competence ratings. The demerit to perceived competence from gender and using one’s voice to support diversity was not replicated in this study. However, mentorship had a modest positive effect on …

The Role Of Self-Disclosure In Improving Workplace Cross-Race Mentoring Outcomes, Christine R. Smith

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While the racial diversity of the workforce is increasing, minority employees still do not appear to be advancing professionally at the same rates as White employees. There are many explanations for why minority employees do not experience the same rates of advancement as White employees. One key developmental relationship that can aid in increasing the opportunities for minority employees to advance and grow in an organization is the mentoring relationship. However, given the lack of diversity in the upper levels of organizational hierarchies, minorities are more likely to have a White mentor than they are to have a minority mentor. …

I’M Afraid To Tell You What I Really Think: An Investigation Into The Feedback Withholding Bias Mechanism And Outcomes Within Stem Settings, Deborah Lee

Dissertations

This study builds on previous research findings that White individuals who desire to not appear racist is associated with Black students failing to receive constructive feedback, compared to White students (Croft & Schmader, 2012). This Feedback Withholding Bias (FWB) may inhibit the ability for Black students to learn from constructive feedback which is important for student learning and future performance. Black male students and White male evaluators with a STEM major were the focus of this study because of the underrepresentation of Black STEM students and workers and previous research focusing on racism stereotypes impact on the FWB. The results …

A Phenomenological Case Study Of Transformative Learning In A Non-Traditional Diversity Training Program, Ame Lambert

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

Rapidly changing demographics and globalization has spurred a plurality of organizations to invest millions of dollars annually in diversity training, with the primary aim of improving the experiences of underrepresented employees. However, the results of diversity training to date have not proven encouraging. Positive outcomes of diversity training have generally been confined to increased awareness and improved attitudes towards diversity, with implicit and explicit prejudice and behavior remaining unchanged. The aim of this study was to understand the transformational learning experiences of participants in a non-traditional diversity training program and the impact of their transformational learning on their behavior.

A …

Cultural Diversity In Student Ministry Leadership, Steven Zhou

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

In an attempt to contribute to how ministries and Christian academia is addressing issues of diversity, I am conducting a study to analyze correlations between ethnicity and styles/values of leadership. The goal is to uncover whether or not a particular ethnicity generally prefers one style of leadership over another. Past research on the subject has already seen that, in the business world, certain practices work better than others. For example, those from an Asian culture are more likely to prefer formality and authority as opposed to the collaborative and relationship-oriented style of leadership found in America. I will contribute to …

Understanding The Glass Cliff Effect: Why Are Female Leaders Being Pushed Toward The Edge?, Yael S. Oelbaum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The glass cliff effect describes a real-world phenomenon in which women are more likely to be appointed to precarious leadership positions in poorly performing organizations, while men are more likely to be appointed to stable leadership positions in successful organizations (Ryan & Haslam, 2005). This effect represents a subtle, yet dangerous, form of gender discrimination that may limit workplace diversity as well as women’s ability to become successful leaders. Importantly, research exploring why women are preferred for more perilous leadership positions is lacking. The main focus of this dissertation is to systematically organize previous theory and empirically examine processes underlying …

The Influence Of Team Prosocial Motivation On Emergent States And Shared Leadership, Tyree David Mitchell

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Despite the growing body of research on shared leadership, relatively little is known about the antecedents of shared leadership. The following study examined the effects of team prosocial motivation on team emergent states (i.e., team empowerment, psychological safety) and shared leadership. Drawing on motivational theories (e.g., self-determination theory), it was hypothesized that team empowerment and psychological safety would mediate the relationship between team prosocial motivation and shared leadership. Also, in line with the social identity and self-categorization perspectives, it was hypothesized that team surface-level diversity (racial diversity, gender diversity, faultline strength) would moderate the effects of team prosocial motivation on …

Developing A Measure Of Inclusiveness: Factors, Reliability, And Relationship To Job Satisfaction And Intention To Quit, Briana K. Hedman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project was designed to develop the Inclusiveness Inventory, a measure of inclusiveness that was based on the integration of prior research and theory. Test construction consisted of conceptual item development, expert review, and editing by members of the participating organization to improve clarity. Survey items were administered to employees at a large, mid-western transit agency as part of a larger study on workplace climate. This paper explored the structure of the Inclusiveness Inventory by factor analysis. The hypothesized factors of the Inclusiveness Inventory included the dimensions of diversity climate, fairness, belongingness, uniqueness, and discrimination. Secondly, this study evaluated the …

Changing The Faces Of Leadership: Executive Advancement For Professionals Of Color, Hannah Roth

Hannah Roth

There is a need for leadership development in companies to help prepare the next generation of leaders and to promote growth for employees. Additionally, the lack of diversity within the top ranks of leadership needs to be addressed. There is a need for more development programs that increase diversity in top leadership so that leadership at the highest levels of these organizations better reflect the demographics of the United States. There are numerous studies that demonstrate many professionals of color do not advance in their careers as quickly as their counterparts. This paper discusses how leadership development strategies tailored for …

Goal Orientation Heterogeneity In Teams: Investigating Implications For Individual Satisfaction With The Team And Team Conflict, Kyle A. Cameron

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The primary purpose of this research was to examine how goal orientation heterogeneity in teams relates to both individual satisfaction with the team and team conflict. Based on current research on team member heterogeneity and goal orientation, I hypothesized, at the individual level of analysis, that goal orientation dissimilarity would be negatively related to individual satisfaction with the team and, at the team level of analysis, that goal orientation diversity would be positively related to relationship and task conflict. Data were collected from a sample of 420 engineering students working on complex design projects in 101 project teams. Results indicate …

Emotion Regulation In Workgroups: The Roles Of Demographic Diversity And Relational Work Context, Eugene Kim, Devasheesh P. Bhave, Theresa M. Glomb

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Drawing on the social identity perspective, we investigate the cross-level relationship between demographic diversity in workgroups and emotion regulation. We propose that age, racial, and gender diversity in workgroups relate positively to emotion regulation because of demography-related in-group/out-group dynamics. We also examine the moderating role of the relational work context, specifically task interdependence and social interaction, on the relationship between demographic diversity and emotion regulation. Results from a sample of 2,072 employees in 274 workgroups indicate that working in a group with greater age diversity is positively related to an employee's emotion regulation. Results suggest the operation of the age …

The Roles Of Flourishing And Spirituality In Millenials’ Leadership Development Activity, Allison L. O'Malley, Denise E, Williams

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Confronted by today’s epidemic of corporate meltdowns, broken institutional paradigms, unethical decision-making, and demand for innovative competencies in order to remain competitive, educators and researchers are challenged to examine how today’s future leaders develop the skill and will to be effective. Whether labeled GenY, Generation Next, Generation Tech or Millennials (i.e. individuals born between 1982 and 2003), this group of change agents differs in attitudes, behaviors, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivations from older generations (e.g. Taylor & Keeter, 2010; Twenge, Campbell & Freeman, 2012). The scholarly debate on the role of meaning making (Park, 2005) describes the Millennial on a …

Understanding The Effects Of Diversity In Mission From A Social Science Perspective, David R. Dunaetz

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This study presents an overview of the results of empirical studies concerning diversity in work teams. Although these studies have most often been carried out in secular contexts, they support perspectives of human nature that are consistent with the biblical themes found associated with the Tower of Babel (the Similarity/Attraction Perspective) and Paul's metaphor of the Body of Christ and spiritual gifts (the Information/Decision Making Perspective). Key concepts are explained, including the measurement of diversity and team performance, task and relationship diversity, faultlines, cultural versus non-cultural diversity, and status. When the results of the various diversity studies are combined, it …