The Consequences of Women-Targeted Diversity Approaches on Men

Abstract

Organisations strive for a gender diverse workforce to address various challenges, nevertheless women remain a minority group in high-power leadership positions. Organisations often implement women-targeted diversity programs to recruit and retain women, these programs often neglect men. Given the importance of the perspectives of men in diversity initiatives, the purpose of this study is to examine how the inclusion of men in diversity approaches affects their organisational commitment. To measure this relation we used a between-subjects experimental design with two conditions: a non-all-inclusive and an all-inclusive diversity approach. We analysed the data of 94 male participants who met the eligibility criteria and completed the survey. We found that the type of diversity approach did not significantly affect the organisational commitment of men. However, we did find that the type of diversity approach indirectly affects organisational commitment through perceived inclusion. Identification with their gender group did not moderate the relation between diversity approach and perceived inclusion. This highlights the importance of perceived inclusion in influencing commitment among men, regardless of the identification with their gender group. This study emphasises practical implications for organisations to enhance diversity and inclusion efforts to boost commitment among men by broadening their approaches to be more inclusive of all gender groups and enhancing inclusive policies and practices. To know how to keep male employees devoted to the organisation while reaching for equal gender diversity, future research can further examine the indirect effect of diversity approach on organisational commitment.