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The purpose of this paper is to investigate diversity attitudes of business school students across three national contexts Norway; India and the Czech Republic. These three countries are dissimilar from one another in terms of values, such as individualism and collectivism (Hofstede, 2001) self-expression and secular-rationalism (Inglehart and Welzel, 2010) and inequality. The authors wanted to explore similarities and differences in diversity attitudes of respondents from these countries.

Using the diversity attitude scale developed by De Meuse and Hostager (2001) the authors conducted comparative research and collected data from 234 business school graduate students.

The authors found that all groups were positive towards diversity, however, there were significant differences in diversity attitudes between the countries. The Czech Republic had the most positive diversity scores and India the least positive.

This study used convenient samples of business students which might not be representative of the future management in these countries. However, the findings do suggest that attitudes towards diversity are generally positive across these very different national contexts.

The findings suggest that in today’s international context people are becoming more positive towards diversity – at least on the conceptual level and a bottom up approach from MNC to diversity management might be easier to implement than previously thought. The preliminary evidence from the study suggests that this first step of introducing diversity policies across national borders might not meet as much resistance as previously anticipated.

The movement towards seeing and accepting different others is moving in the right direction.

To use this established diversity attitudes measure across three very different national cultures. In the literature there is a call for more comparative research on diversity management.

This paper aims to examine the effects of watching a video providing knowledge about either a Sikh student or an older student on participants' knowledge about each particular group, their attitudes towards that group.

The study used a pre‐post experimental design and examined the effects of diversity awareness training using a short web‐based video.

Results indicated that watching a Sikh video significantly increased knowledge of Sikhs and had a marginally significant effect on improving attitudes toward that target group. Additionally, White participants experienced a greater positive attitude change towards Sikhs than non‐White participants. There were no significant effects on knowledge or attitude change for older individuals. However, watching either video was associated with a decline in participants' multiculturalism attitudes.

The results suggest that further work is needed on the effects of specifically focused diversity training as well as more general multicultural training. The study only examined short‐term change in participants' knowledge and attitudes: more research is needed to examine the long‐term effects of diversity training.

The results indicate that organizations should perform some type of need assessment prior to conducting diversity training because narrowly focused diversity training is not likely to have generalized effects.

The paper should interest academics and practitioners since there is very little research that has examined how diversity training works and whether it is effective.

To investigate how an individual's value structure influences his/her attitudes toward others who are dissimilar and the moderating effects of age, gender, race, and religiosity on this relationship.

A sample of 165 respondents completed the 56‐item Schwartz Value Survey (SVS), which measures the four value types of openness to change, self‐transcendence, conservation, and self‐enhancement, and the 15‐item Miville‐Guzman Universality‐Diversity Scale Short (M‐GUDS‐S), which measures diversity attitudes. The relationships between the variables were explored using hierarchical regression.

Respondents who scored higher on the values of openness to change and self‐ transcendence had more positive diversity attitudes than those who scored lower. Respondents who scored higher on self‐enhancement had less positive diversity attitudes than those who scored lower. The prediction that those who score higher on conservation would have less positive diversity attitudes was not supported. Age, gender, and race were found to interact with values to predict diversity attitudes. None of the interaction effects for religiosity was significant.

This paper provides evidence of the predictive strength of an individual's value structure on their attitudes towards diversity. More specifically, this paper shows that the impact that a person's values have on his/her attitudes towards diversity is moderated by his/her age, race, and gender. The results suggest that diversity training needs to be more targeted and designed to take into consideration the values, age, gender, and race of the trainees.

The purpose of this paper is to examine attitudes towards diversity in an emerging Gulf economy whose workforce is dominated by expatriates and is under significant pressure to accommodate host country citizens. It seeks to examine employees' attitudes towards workforce diversity in the banking sector in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A total of 100 employees from 11 banks are chosen randomly from banks operating in the UAE. Those employees are asked to answer a questionnaire containing various questions that cover the applauded benefits of diversity as identified in the related literature.

All banks have a diverse workforce, with nationals representing a minority in all of them. However, banks differ on the various indicators of diversity with some being more religiously diverse while others more diverse in terms of nationalities or languages. Overall, Islamic banks are the least diverse on all dimensions of diversity.

Several obstacles are faced during the course of this study including limitations on access to employees, sampling limitations preventing more in‐depth analysis of certain aspects, lack of regional studies on diversity and the timing of the survey itself which coincide with the summer exodus of expatriates.

This paper provides useful information on attitudes toward diversity in an emerging Gulf economy, dominated by expatriates.

This exploratory study examined the role of both gender and race/ethnicity, and their interaction, on cultural values likely to be related to attitudes toward equality and diversity and an attitude towards equality and diversity itself. Data were collected from 120 employees from a large financial institution in Canada. Non‐North Americans and non‐Caucasians held cultural values that were found to be associated with less support for equality. These findings suggest that additional efforts must be made to bring non‐Caucasians on side as companies attempt to create a level playing field for all employees.

Australian construction sites are culturally diverse workplaces. This paper aims to compare operative and manager attitudes towards cultural diversity on Australian construction sites, and to examine the strategies that are used to manage it.

A face‐to‐face questionnaire survey was undertaken of 1,155 construction operatives and 180 supervisors on Australian construction sites.

The vast majority of operatives and managers are comfortable with cultural diversity. However, there is some anxiety about cultural diversity, especially around safety risks, and there is evidence of racism. Those concerns are more keenly perceived by operatives than by managers. Both operatives and managers see some of the negative issues (discrimination, racist joke telling) as inevitable daily outcomes of cultural diversity on sites. The normalisation of these negative forms of cross‐cultural interaction reveals a pessimistic disposition towards cultural diversity. Cultural diversity policy, and programs, are not seen as a priority by managers, and some see such strategies (e.g. affirmative action plans) as discriminatory, and unfair, since they may favour some groups over others.

No research has compared operative and management attitudes towards cultural diversity in the Australian construction sector. This paper provides a first glimpse into the value attributed to cultural diversity programs by managers within construction sites. These insights will be of value to managers and supervisors who have to manage multicultural workforces in the construction industry. Conceptually, the paper reveals how the “politics of sameness” are hegemonic within the construction industry, presenting as an a priori anxiety towards difference, the normalising of poor cross‐cultural relations, the non‐prioritising of policies to better manage cultural diversity or their ad hoc adoption.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the increasingly important area of diversity management in multicultural settings. This paper examines several private organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as illustrative examples of the challenges facing global organizations seeking to utilise a hugely diverse labour force. The objective of the investigation is to shed more light on the intervening variables that connect diversity dimensions to personal attitudes on diversity.

A total of 406 employees from ten organizations operating in the UAE were selected based on their length of service and contract type. These participants completed questionnaires as a means of determining their attitudes towards diversity in the workplace. The data were subjected to principal component analysis from which a regression model was derived that associates intervening variables identified from the study with personal attitudes to diversity.

Three intervening variables (components) are found: commitment to the organization, frustration in the work environment and perceptions of respect and fairness. These are found to be correlated to personal attitudes to diversity in the workplace. Furthermore, location is found to be a differentiating factor in the context of commitment to the organization, with Dubai employees being more committed than those in Abu Dhabi – hence, both emirates expressed different views on diversity in the workplace.

Ensuring reliability of responses on such a sensitive topic, gaining access to a representative set of participant organizations and insufficient literature on related issues all impinged on the research investigation. The research has relevance to managers tasked with overseeing multicultural teams and human resource (HR) issues related to personal well‐being in the workplace.

The identification of intervening variables is an under‐researched area that now can take direction from the results of this investigation. Practitioners will have a better understanding of how to achieve more positive attitudes to diversity and thus, improve group dynamics in the workplace by targeting these intervening variables in HR policies.

Drawing on the social exchange theory, this study aims to explore line managers' perceptions of diversity management, as well as their perceptions of their role and responsibilities in shaping and implementing diversity practices. The senior management's leadership support, as it is perceived by line managers, in assisting them to manage diversity successfully is also examined.

Semi-structured interviews with 51 line managers across different sectors in the UK were conducted to address the following three research questions. First, how do line managers perceive diversity management? Second, what are the actual roles and responsibilities of line managers in shaping diversity practices' implementation? Third, how do leadership interactions within the organisation influence line managers' perceptions of diversity practices?

Line managers present high levels of personal determination and commitment towards diversity supplemented by a consensus on the strategic role of leadership in relation to diversity management. In addition, poor levels of organisational support, leadership values and style are identified; all highly related to their ability to deliver results and, most importantly, to form effective relationships in the workplace.

Data included line managers' views but not senior managers' perspectives, thus limiting the study in identifying the holistic impact of social exchanges in shaping effective relations. In addition, quantitative research could test and enhance the generalisability of existing findings.

Investing in social relationships can positively influence line managers' ability to deliver results. Action is required at the organisational level by senior management to support and recognise line managers' critical roles to enable them to apply and promote diversity management.

These findings address a theoretical gap relating to the evaluation of the critical role played by line managers in the delivery of diversity practices. The study further demonstrates how social exchange relationships can influence line managers' perceptions of diversity management, an unexplored area within the diversity literature.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a cross-cultural comparison of the attitudes toward diversity among human resource managers working for the same multinational company in the Netherlands and Morocco.

In total, 35 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted by telephone and were analyzed by the use of content analysis. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions were used as theoretical framework.

The findings suggest that attitudes toward diversity are changing and not always in line with Hofstede’s scores from 2010. Differences between the Netherlands and Morocco are discussed and trends in both countries are outlined.

While it has been argued that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are relatively stable over time, the findings show that attitudes toward diversity are evolving in the light of the changing environment and that other cultural factors also play an important role.

Many organisations monitor statistics on the background of job applicants to inform diversity management, a practice known as equality monitoring (EM). The study examines perceptions of EM and employers that use it. Additionally, it aims to assess potentially salient group differences in attitudes towards EM, focussing on perceived history of employment discrimination, ethnicity, sex, and a comparison between the UK and Sweden – two countries which differ extensively in EM prevalence.

A cross-sectional self-report survey assessed attitudes toward EM, attraction to employers using it, pro-equality and diversity attitudes, perceived history of employment discrimination and background characteristics (e.g. ethnicity and sex), and compared a UK and Sweden sample (N = 925).

The results reveal positive perceptions of EM overall. Although no differences were observed between UK ethnic majority and minority respondents, White British men rate employers using EM as less attractive with increasing levels of perceived past discrimination. Women have more positive perceptions than men. Finally, the UK sample rated EM more positively than the Sweden sample.

Despite EM being widespread, the study is the first to investigate detailed perceptions of it, making group and country comparisons. Results support the use of EM in HRM but highlight the need for clear communication to avoid confusion with positive discrimination, which is perceived negatively in some majority group members, and to allay fears of data misuse. Recommendations are made for future implementation.