Interventions to promote diversity in the workplace

Abstract

Despite the workplace becoming increasingly diverse, minority groups are still severely underrepresented in managerial positions. Given the positive relationship between diversity and an organization’s performance (Hafsi & Turgut, 2013) and employee retention (Kaplan et al., 2011), I reviewed and examined interventions that promote diversity and reduce stereotypes in the workplace. Chapter 1 is a narrative review on gender diversity initiatives. Adopting the diversity ideology framework (Leslie et al., 2020), I discussed the two types of ideologies that drive diversity practices, their shortcomings, and proposed ways in which the effectiveness of current diversity initiatives can be maximized. Chapters 2 and 3 are empirical studies investigating interventions that can alleviate gender inequality in the workplace. Chapter 2 examined whether communicating the idea that everyone possesses high leadership potential (i.e., the universal mindset) can help reduce the gender pay gap. Chapter 3 examined whether the default effect can nudge recruiters to select more diverse candidates when hiring.