Inclusion climate: A multilevel investigation of its antecedents and consequences

Abstract

This study investigates the antecedents and consequences of organization‐level inclusion climate. A national sample of human resource decision‐makers from 100 organizations described their firms' formal diversity management programs; 3,229 employees reported their perceptions of, and reactions to, their employers' diversity management. Multilevel analyses demonstrate that identity‐conscious programs (programs that target specific identity groups) generate an inclusion climate. Moreover, the analyses provide evidence of multilevel mediation: In organizations with an inclusion climate, individual employees perceive the organization as fulfilling its diversity management obligations and respond with higher levels of affective commitment. This study represents an important step toward understanding how a shared perception of organizational inclusiveness develops and how inclusion climate facilitates the achievement of diversity management objectives. The findings also shed light on the important role of identity‐conscious programs in promoting organizational commitment within a diverse workforce.

Sixty years of discrimination and diversity research in human resource management: A review with suggestions for future research directions

“…Country‐level cultural diversity can make managing diversity a uniquely complex (Cooke & Saini, 2010) and challenging process (Donnelly, 2015). Thus, cultural differences should inform organizations’ cross‐national management strategies (Tung, 1993).…”

“…) Delegation of diversity management from top executives without active involvement from all levels is ineffective (Childs, 2005) and can even elicit a backlash from employees (Jones et al, 2013). Implementing diversity management practices and emphasizing moral imperatives across leadership, training, recruiting, and development functions (Armstrong et al, 2010;Jones et al, 2013) fosters a shared perception of inclusiveness that is vital to the commitment of diverse employees (Li et al, 2019). in gender roles (Cooke & Xiao, 2014;Kaminski & Paiz, 1984), work…”

“…In an excellent review of the diversity and inclusion literature, Roberson (2019) offers several specific areas in which future diversity and inclusion research should move. Of particular relevance to the field of human resources, is the idea of going beyond the business case justification for diversity-a viewpoint which guides much of the HR literature, and to focus on other justifications, such as social justice and T A B L E 2 (Continued) Article References Future research directions suggested by the authors of the article 65 Li et al (2019) Examine all the five levels (principles, policies programs, practices, climate) of the HR system and sample informants at each level; investigate how line managers implement firm diversity programs; collect data from more senior managers in a replication study; compare/contrast between various diversity management programs such as identity-blind/identity-consciousness and examine the underlying mechanisms 66 Zhu et al (2019) Study disabled employees' perspectives of people with disabilities (PWD) directly, examine different effects of disability types/attributes 67 Present study: Triana et al (2021) Discrimination: Expand the focus of discrimination research to other target categories (i.e., outside of sex and race) that have received comparably less attention; consider expanding to focus on bias against those who interact with but are outside of the organization such as clients, customers, or vendors; broaden the scope of discrimination research beyond commonly studied contexts (e.g., recruiting, selection, and pay) to examine where, when, and how discrimination occurs in more covert ways. Diversity: move beyond conceptualizations of diversity as separation and disparity to pursue research on diversity as variety as designated by Harrison and Klein (2007); examine the roles of diverse leadership and board of directors on firm outcomes; build more comprehensive models of diversity by accounting for boundary conditions such as diversity climate and HRM systems; expand beyond the business case for diversity to focus on evaluation metrics such as social justice and corporate responsibility; examine bundles of diversity and inclusion initiatives and how they relate to outcomes such as retention and diversity climate perceptions; investigate backlash among dominant groups against inclusion programs in workplaces settings corporate responsibility.…”

Skilled Migrants Employed in Developed, Mature Economies: From Newcomers to Organizational Insiders

“…An inclusive climate refers to the extent to which employees collectively perceive that the organization values differences, gives employees from all identity groups equal access to organizational resources, and creates opportunities to establish networks within a diverse workforce (Li, Perera, Kulik, & Metz, 2019). An inclusive climate influences newcomer socialization through two distinct signaling mechanisms: “First it may signal to newcomers how they can be expected to be treated by their new colleagues.…”

“…These identity-blind HRM practices establish a foundation for relationship development, but they will not create an inclusive climate on their own. Employees feel included when their workplaces communicate a sense of belonging alongside a value for uniqueness (Shore et al, 2011), and so an inclusive workplace climate requires a combination of identity-blind and identity-conscious practices (Li et al, 2019). The language and culture courses and support for host-country credentialing/accrediting (Cerdin et al, 2014) discussed earlier are examples of identity-conscious practices because they directly target an SM’s unique needs.…”