Organizations launch diversity initiatives to promote diversity within their ranks, improve the work experiences of underrepresented groups, and satisfy growing demands for diversity in workplace settings. While typically welcomed by the target group, diversity initiatives can be compromised when employees who are not the initiative’s targets—for example, men in the case of gender diversity initiatives—withhold their support. Particularly organizations that are mostly composed of nontargets may thus struggle with a lack of support for their diversity initiatives. To understand how organizations can successfully implement diversity initiatives while preserving nontarget support, we take an uncertainty management perspective and examine the interactive effects of diversity practice type (identity-conscious vs. identity-blind) and leader continuity rhetoric (high vs. low vision of continuity) on nontarget support. In Study 1, using data from a 2 × 2 between-person field experiment in a firefighter organization, we find that framing the initiative under a vision of high (vs. low) continuity preserves nontargets’ anticipatory distributive justice in the face of identity-conscious (vs. identity-blind) practices and thereby promotes initiative support. Study 2, a vignette experiment, replicates our findings and shows that other justice dimensions above and beyond distributive justice appear secondary in this context. Our work has important implications for managing the initiation phase of diversity initiatives in organizations primarily composed of nontargets in a way that fosters nontargets’ perceived justice and support.

中文翻译：

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弥合过去，还是打破过去？领导者连续性修辞和非目标员工多元化倡议支持


组织发起多元化计划，以促进其团队内的多元化，改善代表性不足群体的工作经验，并满足工作场所对多元化日益增长的需求。虽然通常受到目标群体的欢迎，但当不是该计划目标的员工（例如，性别多元化计划中的男性）拒绝支持时，多元化计划可能会受到影响。特别是，主要由非目标组织组成的组织可能会因此而难以应对其多元化计划缺乏支持。为了了解组织如何在保留非目标支持的同时成功实施多元化计划，我们从不确定性管理的角度出发，研究了多元化实践类型（身份意识与身份盲目）和领导者连续性修辞（连续性高与低连续性愿景）对非目标支持的交互影响。在研究 1 中，使用来自消防员组织 2 × 2 人间现场实验的数据，我们发现在高（相对于低）连续性的愿景下构建倡议可以在面对身份意识（相对于身份盲目）的做法时保持非目标的预期分配正义，从而促进倡议支持。研究 2 是一个小插图实验，它复制了我们的发现，并表明在这种情况下，分配正义之上的其他正义维度似乎是次要的。我们的工作对于管理主要由非目标组成的组织中的多元化倡议的启动阶段具有重要意义，以促进非目标的正义和支持。