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The complex world in which we reside is calling for more critical approaches to address the precarity experienced by the most marginalized in social systems. However, human resource development (HRD) lacks empirical data to describe, define and project the objectives and future directions of Critical HRD in today’s turbulent and volatile times. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the historical and contemporary progression of Critical HRD, as described by nine of its most well-known scholars.

Data were collected through semistructured interviews, and a constructivist grounded theory coding approach was applied during analysis to identify themes and patterns.

The findings of this study highlight the persistent scholarship versus practice divide among Critical HRD scholars, suggesting that Critical HRD may merely be an academic undertaking and something not practiced within the public domain. The authors call for an evolution of Critical HRD toward more practice- and action-oriented approaches to scholarship and teaching so that meaningful changes can take place in actual organizations and workplaces.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study was the first to empirically show that there is a real research–practice gap, particularly among Critical HRD scholars. Critical HRD scholars need to take these findings seriously as an opportunity to reflect on how they can take Critical HRD to the next level beyond academic discourse.

Using intersectionality and introducing newer developments from critical cross-cultural management studies, this paper aims to discuss how diversity is applicable to changing cultural contexts.

The paper is a conceptual paper built upon relevant empirical research findings from critical cross-cultural management studies.

By applying intersectionality as a conceptual lens, this paper underscores the practical and conceptual limitations of the business case for diversity, in particular in a culturally diverse international business (IB) setting. Introducing newer developments from critical cross-cultural management studies, the authors identify the need to investigate and manage diversity across distinct categories, and as intersecting with culture, context and power.

This paper builds on previous empirical research in critical cross-cultural management studies using intersectionality as a conceptual lens and draws implications for diversity management in an IB setting from there. The authors add to the critique of the business case by showing its failures of identifying and, consequently, managing diversity, equality/equity and inclusion (DEI) in IB settings.

Organizations (e.g. MNEs) are enabled to clearly see the limitations of the business case and provided with a conceptual lens for addressing DEI issues in a more contextualized and intersectional manner.

This paper introduces intersectionality, as discussed and applied in critical cross-cultural management studies, as a conceptual lens for outlining the limitations of the business case for diversity and for promoting DEI in an IB setting in more complicated, realistic and relevant ways.

Since the 1980's, diversity management (DM) has been regarded as a relevant scholarly and practical endeavour laden with different and often contrasting rationales and conceptualisations. In this regard, the current literature on DM largely differentiates between two overarching approaches – the instrumental and the critical approach with varying conceptualisations and underlying understandings of DM. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how a paradox lens can be utilised to bridge existing understandings of diversity management.

The authors aim to discuss the current state of DM literature and reconceptualise DM from a paradox lens.

The authors argue that the use of a paradox lens on DM allows for challenges to be brought forward instead of ignored or hidden away by illuminating and actively acknowledging both the liberating but also the challenging and oftentimes constraining experiences for the actors involved. Thus, a Paradox lens offers space for embracing and utilising paradoxes when working with diversity.

Diversity management is no new concept in the field of human resource management and several scholars argue that the longstanding divide between the instrumental and critical approach remains problematic and limiting for the practice of DM. Hence, the value of reconceptualising DM from a paradox lens lies in bridging the two approaches in order to give way to viewing DM as a nuanced, dynamic and multifaceted practice that can accommodate complexity and contradictions in new and potentially beneficial manners.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of board gender diversity on corporate social performance (CSP) in Brazilian companies.

This research collected available information on the CSP, financial performance and governance of Brazilian companies for five years (2016–2020). The dependent variable of this study is CSP (workforce, human rights, community and respect for the product). The independent variable is gender diversity. The authors control financial performance, the presence of a social responsibility committee and the industry sector. The data were analyzed using the dynamic panel data system, which is the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator.

This empirical investigation confirmed the hypothesis that the female presence on boards has a positive effect on the CSP of Brazilian companies. The findings of this study are consistent with previous studies. The authors' results suggest that women are more socially aware and exhibit more social corporate behavior.

Supplementing financial reports with nonfinancial information draws the attention of regulators and shareholders. Companies can also create human resources policies for appointing women to senior management positions and a succession plan that values the talent that women bring to companies.

A critical mass of women on the board can provide an effective balance, considering the diversity of backgrounds and experiences between men and women. Just one woman on the board can mean representation and resistance, but with a critical amount, female directors can have a voice and help formulate strategies aimed at CSP.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between gender diversity and the risk profile of 141 listed banks from 14 emerging countries over the period of 2012–2020. Specifically, this study investigates whether the relationship between gender diversity and banking risk varies between Islamic banks and conventional banks, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second aim is to investigate whether COVID-19 health crisis moderates the effect of gender diversity on banks’ risk-taking behavior within a dual banking system.

This study derives its theoretical foundation from both the token theory and the critical mass theory. Both fixed and random effects are combined to examine the relationship between gender diversity and bank risk-taking in emerging countries.

The results show that female presence on the board of directors reduces banks' financial risk. However, the presence of women continues to positively affect the capital adequacy ratio of large banks. The results also show that the presence of at least two female directors significantly reduces banking risk. The findings support the expectations of the token and critical mass theories. In addition, the presence of female board members, per se, does not influence the risk-taking behavior of Islamic banks. Finally, this study demonstrates that the moderating role of the COVID-19 health crisis is only more effective for large banks than for small ones. The analyses demonstrate good reliability and robustness of the findings of this study.

The study provides novel insights for policymakers and practitioners on how female directors impact banks’ risk-taking behavior in dual-banking countries. It also contributes to the debate on gender diversity and corporate governance literature, which can help in monitoring bank risk-taking and improving financial stability.

This study presents new evidence about the importance of board gender diversity for bank risk-taking in a dual banking system by considering the moderating influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study also contributes to the literature on bank risk-taking by applying two measures of gender diversity and a critical mass of women on boards.

This study aims to investigate how the presence of female executives on the board affects a company’s capital structure decisions. The critical mass of female executives on the board was also considered to observe their impact on capital structure.

Samples were taken from nonfinancial sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2012 and 2021 (3,707 firm-year observations). Capital structure was measured using four approaches, namely, debt-to-total asset ratio (DAR), debt-to-equity ratio (DER), short-term debt-to-total assets (STD) and long-term debt-to-total assets (LTD). The data were analyzed using panel data regression analysis, including a fixed effects model with clustered standard errors.

The presence of female executives on the board is significantly negatively related to capital structure as measured by DER and STD. The critical mass of women provided no evidence of a relationship with a firm’s capital structure. Robustness checks were performed, and the results were consistent with those in the main analysis.

Female executives can be appointed to management boards when determining a strategy to achieve the capital structure desired by a company.

This study increases the diversity of research in corporate governance by synthesizing various indicators from female executives into a single study to determine their relationships with companies’ capital structures. In addition, this study stands out by incorporating four distinct indicators for assessing capital structure and diverging from the norm observed in many other studies, many of which rely on just two indicators: DAR and DER. Moreover, it strongly emphasizes the unique economic, legal, social and cultural landscapes of developing countries like Indonesia in comparison to their developed counterparts, particularly Western nations.

Organizational diversity training is designed to enhance employees' skills and competencies regarding diversity and its management. The question of its effectiveness, and the conditions under which it thrives, remains a matter of debate. Unlike previous studies that have predominantly focused on the perspective of training participants, this study shifts the lens to the viewpoints of diversity training providers in Germany – a country where the formal requirement for diversity management was implemented relatively recently. The primary objective is to ascertain the critical factors influencing training effectiveness from the providers' perspective.

This research draws upon case studies based on document analysis and qualitative interviews with diversity training providers across Germany.

The investigation reveals that the effectiveness of diversity training, as perceived by providers, hinges on several key factors: the organizational environment (including the widespread recognition of diversity issues and the presence of an organizational diversity framework), the attributes of diversity trainers (notably their personal familiarity with diversity) and the setting and design of the training (such as venue, duration and a blend of instructional approaches). A notable barrier to achieving effective training outcomes is the lack of supportive conditions within client companies, exemplified by limited training budgets, which impedes the accurate assessment of training effectiveness.

This study marks a novel contribution to the field by explicitly focusing on the perspective of diversity training providers in Germany. It provides new insights into the importance of the organizational context surrounding diversity education within the private sector.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of sustainable board governance, based on (1) sustainability board committees, (2) critical mass of female board members and (3) sustainability-related executive compensation, on sustainable supply chain reporting (SSCR).

Based on stakeholder and critical mass theories, a sample of 1,577 firm-year observations for firms listed at the EuroSTOXX600 for the period 2017–2021 is used. Sustainable board governance and SSCR proxies are collected from the Refinitiv database. Correlation and logit regression analyses are conducted to measure the impact of sustainable board governance on SSCR.

Sustainable board governance significantly improves SSCR. The findings are robust to various robustness checks, based on the modification of dependent and independent variables.

Due to massive regulations on sustainability reporting, finance and corporate governance, firms listed on the EuroSTOXX 600 are focused in this analysis. The European capital market represents a unique setting for archival research.

European standard setters should connect the relationship between sustainable board governance and SSCR in future regulations, for example, due to the recent corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD) and corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD).

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper provides the first analysis on the impact of sustainable board governance on SSCR.

Previous research has analyzed the consequence of network stability; however, little is known about how partner type diversity influence network stability in R&D network. Based on knowledge-based view and social network theory, the purpose of this paper is to unravel the internal mechanisms between partner type diversity and network stability through the mediating role of knowledge recombination in R&D network.

The authors collected an unbalanced panel patent data set from information communication technology industry for the period 1994–2016. Then, the authors tested the different dimensions of partner type variety and its relevance in the R&D network and the mediating role of knowledge recombination through adopting the multiple linear regression.

Results indicate an inverted U-shaped relationship between partner type diversity (variety and relevance) and network stability, whereas knowledge recombination partially mediate these relationships.

From the perspective of R&D networks, this paper explores that there are the under-researched phenomena the antecedent of network stability through nodal attributes (i.e. partner type variety and partner type relevance). Moreover, this paper empirically examined the mediating role of knowledge recombination in the partner type diversity–network stability relationships. The novel perspective allows focal firm to recognize importance of nodal attributes, which are critical to fully excavate the potential capabilities of cooperating partners in R&D network.

This study aims to highlight the impact of introducing women directors to board committees, thereby empowering them to contribute to decision-making, and as a result, influence firms’ financial performance in an emerging economy.

This study uses a fixed-effects panel data regression model to test the impact of gender diversity on corporate boards as well as board committees on firms’ financial performance. Two widely used diversity measures, the Blau index and the Shannon index, have been used to enhance the robustness of the results.

The findings suggest that gender diversity on prominent board committees (remuneration committee and nomination committee) positively affects firms’ financial performance when measured by the market-based performance measure, but it is insignificant when measured through accounting-based performance indicator. Furthermore, the benefits of gender diversity accrue to the firms only when women are part of prominent committees and are engaged in governance mechanisms, rather than just being appointed on corporate boards as a means of tokenism.

This study is among the first to investigate the relationship between gender diversity and financial performance through the lens of committee assignments. Moreover, the unique cultural and institutional setting offered by India, which is an emerging economy, provides a fertile ground for understanding the role of women leaders in the workforce.