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Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have become prioritized goals of business, such as hiring more women and racial minorities. This study adds to the body of research regarding the value of diversity in organizations by examining the relationship between diversity at the workforce level and the financial performance of the organization. The empirical results of prior research have provided mixed results, finding mainly positive, but also negative, and nonsignificant relationships (Sharma et al., 2020; Vlas et al., 2022). The purpose of this study is to examine the current employment status of women and racial minorities in top US companies, then analyze if a correlation exists between a company’s profit margin and its percentage of women and racial minority employees and managers.

This study examined the top 200 companies in the Fortune 500 companies; these are the largest companies by revenue in the USA. Companies were ranked according to each variable (% of women employees, % of racial minority employees, % of women managers and % of racial minority managers) and then divided into equal quartiles. The mean profit margin for the top quartile was compared with the mean profit margin for the bottom quartile. T-tests were used to determine whether significant differences in profit margin exist between companies. This methodology of comparing top and bottom quartiles was developed in prior studies.

Fortune 200 companies have an average of 40% women and also 40% racial minorities in their workforce. Both women and racial minorities account for a smaller percentage of managers. Women account for 34% of managers, while racial minorities account for 29%. There is a significant positive relationship between profit margin and two of the variables. Companies with 45% or more women managers have a significantly higher profit margin than companies with the lowest percentages of women managers. Companies with 48% or more racial minority employees have a significantly higher profit margin than companies with the lowest percentages of racial minority employees. These findings are in-line with the existing body of research that has found mixed impacts of diversity on firm performance (cf. Hoobler et al., 2018; Leung et al., 2022) and draws attention to the need to consider the impact of gender and racial diversity on firms at various management levels within the firm to better understand the impact that increasing diversity has on firm performance (cf. Curado et al., 2022).

This paper adds to the body of knowledge by assessing the current status of women and racial minorities in top US companies and, then, analyzing if a correlation exists between a company’s profit margin and the number of women and racial minority employees and managers. Findings provide companies with further incentive to maintain DEI as a prioritized goal.

This paper aims to describe how the multidisciplinary studies in the special issue expand and enrich the framework of authentic talent development in sociocultural context.

The study presents a framework of authentic talent development in sociocultural context and identifies key themes from the seven interdisciplinary studies of the special issue to enrich and expand our understanding of sociocultural barriers to authentic talent development for individuals from low-income and minoritized communities, including women.

The studies included in the special issue illustrate several ways in which social identity ascription truncates the talent trajectory of individuals from low-income and minoritized groups. They also show how ascription processes can be mitigated through policy, reformed organizational structure and practice and growth fostering relationships.

The findings of this paper have implications for developing strategies to mitigate social identity ascription in talent development in the domains of public policy, schooling and the workplace.

The special issue brings together contributions from multiple disciplines to holistically understand the nature of social identity ascription in talent development across the life course. Collectively, the contributions identify a number of complimentary tools at several levels that might allow effective mitigation of social identity ascription processes, facilitating authentic talent development for individuals from low-income and minoritized communities.

This study aims to examine the influence of board gender diversity on dividend policy and cash holdings in several emerging economies. This study also investigates the nonlinear impact of women on dividend policy and cash holdings and the differences between countries with one- and two-tier board systems.

The sample includes 103 firms listed in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. The data represent all industries except the financial industry. The sample period is the 10 financial years from 2010 to 2019. This study analyzed unbalanced panel data with fixed effect specifications for baseline model analysis.

This study finds robust evidence indicating that women’s presence negatively influences dividends and positively influences cash holdings. The findings in the additional analysis are significant and show a nonlinear relationship, supporting the substitution hypothesis.

The findings of this paper certainly provided a valuable contribution as a useful empirical guide for policy decision-makers in developing countries, regulators and corporate decision-makers related to board gender diversity. Developed countries have implemented a minimum quota of women boards in the composition of the board of directors. However, there are still few developing countries that implement these policies. Women can reflect or show their values in corporate governance, such as being careful in making decisions and being conservative about risk. These guides policymakers in implementing a minimum quota of women in the composition of the board of directors.

This study contributes to the debate on the impact of gender diversity on dividends and cash holdings, especially in ASEAN emerging economies because there is a notable empirical gap relative to developed countries. Moreover, this study contributes to the necessary nuanced understanding of the substitution hypothesis in emerging economies. The results also support the explanation of critical mass theory to account for the nonlinear relationship between the number of women board members and dividends and cash holdings.

Racial stigma and racial criminalization have been centralizing pillars of the construction of Blackness in the United States. Taking such systemic injustice and racism as a given, then question then becomes how these macro-level arrangements are reflected in micro-level processes. This work uses radical interactionism and stigma theory to explore the potential implications for racialized identity construction and the development of “criminalized subjectivity” among Black undergraduate students at a predominately white university in the Midwest. I use semistructured interviews to explore the implications of racial stigma and criminalization on micro-level identity construction and how understandings of these issues can change across space and over the course of one's life. Findings demonstrate that Black university students are keenly aware of this particular stigma and its consequences in increasingly complex ways from the time they are school-aged children. They were aware of this stigma as a social fact but did not internalize it as a true reflection of themselves; said internalization was thwarted through strong self-concept and racial socialization. This increasingly complex awareness is also informed by an intersectional lens for some interviewees. I argue not only that the concept of stigma must be explicitly placed within these larger systems but also that understanding and identity-building are both rooted in ever-evolving processes of interaction and meaning-making. This research contributes to scholarship that applies a critical lens to Goffmanian stigma rooted in Black sociology and criminology and from the perspectives of the stigmatized themselves.

Addressing stigmatized identity threat cues customers experience, this study aimed to uncover the effects of frontline employees' ethnic and body-size diversity which lead to customer self-objectification and negative store attitude.

The researchers conducted two studies: Study 1 utilized a one-way ANOVA and a PROCESS mediation model to test the effect of Western beauty-ideal stereotypes on stigmatized identity threat and self-objectification. Study 2 utilized a 2 × 2 experimental design to examine the effects of body-size diversity and ethnic diversity on perceived warmth of sales associates and store attitude.

Results demonstrate that retail store environments which present Western beauty-ideal stereotypes among sales associates cultivate higher levels of stigmatized identity threat cues with their customers, which leads to self-objectification. Also, our findings demonstrated that a lack of ethnic and body-size diversity (i.e. thin and White) among sales associates decreased the perceived sales associate warmth and in turn lowered store attitude.

Participants of the first study were limited by the White participants. The implications highlight the integral need for retailers to hire sales associates who fall outside the parameters of typical Western beauty standards because today's customers desire inclusive brands who do not discriminate based on ethnicity, body size and other characteristics.

This research utilized social identity theory to uncover the effect of retail sales associate stereotype on customer perception of employees, which has not to our knowledge been previously studied.

This chapter explores the concept of identity-conscious advising and coaching to support the development of First-Generation Black Male College Students during their undergraduate experience. Advising and coaching represent foundational practices colleges and universities use to support student success. Much like other aspects of education, institutions implement advising and coaching practices without consideration for how the identity of the student or the professional delivering the service influences student outcomes. First-Generation Black Male College Students' interactions within the college context are often framed by their visible, racial, and gender identities as opposed to their first-generation experience. First-Generation Black Male College Students experience microaggressions, discrimination, deficit perspectives, or negative stereotypes. By exploring an identity-conscious approach to relevant advising theories and coaching approaches, the chapter highlights the importance of building trusting, affirming relationships that lean into the lived experiences of First-Generation Black Male College Students without subjecting them to false, harmful stereotypes. This approach requires self-awareness on the part of educators and an understanding of the racialized dynamics that are inherent in the experience. Without addressing anti-Blackness, the impact of advising and coaching on First-Generation Black Male College Students is likely to have diminished or limited effects for this vital student population.

Based on Lasswell’s communication model, this study investigates how four categories of factors (i.e. the source, content, medium and receiver) conjointly affect the relational, financial and social outcomes (i.e. what effect) of CSA communication.

With a survey (N = 366), this study found configurations of core CSA communication factors leading to three different CSA communication outcomes.

While this study found multiways to yield three different CSA outcomes, combinational logic indicated the combined effects from source, content, medium and receiver. With content and medium, individuals’ connectedness (receiver) to a CSA issue is a core factor leading to a high level of purchase intention and issue advocacy. This study also found that message strategies (i.e. informativeness, factual tone, no promotional tone) are core factors leading to a high level of trust and issue advocacy.

With the theoretical guidance, this research contributes to strategic communication practice for various entities involved in advocacy communication by enabling an improved understanding of advocacy communication factors and triggering different communication outcomes.

As CSA communication involves multiple strategies, conventional research agenda focusing on correlational and path analysis approaches provide limited understanding of communication practice. To fill this void, this study adopts a configurational approach to understand current CSA communication practices holistically.

Policing scholars have largely ignored the workgroup dynamics of police command staffs. These officers work closely at the top of police organizations, promoting strategic objectives and overseeing significant changes. As leaders, emotional regulation is critical to the maintenance of internal and external relationships. Only a few research studies address emotional intelligence (EI) among police leaders. The current study combines these two issues to examine whether emotionally intelligent leaders report better perceptions of workgroup fit with their respective command staffs.

Using a survey of 304 United States (US) command staff officers attending the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy (NA), the authors apply person-environment fit theory and test several hypotheses using structural equation modeling.

Command staff officers with better EI report significantly better perceptions of workgroup fit, suggesting that they may be better equipped to navigate the command staff workgroup dynamics in this complex environment that demands high emotional regulation. Workgroup fit was also significantly higher among higher ranking officers and among officers racialized as White.

Few studies have addressed perceptions of workgroup fit among command staff officers, and little attention has been given to the concept of EI. The authors add to these two important areas of research and provide evidence that emotional intelligence is an important characteristic for leaders when considering how well command staffs work together. This finding may have implications for the efficacy of agencies to facilitate change efforts or to carry out daily operations.

We present the results of one of the only in-depth studies of a police agency’s internal and external response to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 (COVID-19). This study emphasizes the importance of law enforcement agencies conducting comprehensive case studies and after-action assessments to prepare, prevent and respond to prolonged public health crises and showcases the profound (and lingering) effects of COVID-19 on police organizations.

This multi-method case study combines document analysis, a workforce survey, a community survey, interviews and analysis of administrative data to detail and assess the agency’s internal and operational responses to the pandemic and the reactions of employees and community members to those responses.

Despite agency strategies to mitigate the pandemic’s effects, employees cited very high stress levels one year after the pandemic and a third of sworn officers considered leaving the policing profession altogether during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several policies intended by the agency to protect employee health and maintain staffing needs kept workforce levels steady but may have increased feelings of organizational injustice in both sworn and non-sworn individuals, with variation across racial and gender groups. A jurisdiction-wide community survey indicated general support for the police department’s responses but a preference for in-person rather than telephone-based responses to service calls. Officers, however, preferred continuing remote responses even after the pandemic subsided.

To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the only in-depth case studies that examine a police agency’s internal and external responses to COVID-19 and the sworn, non-sworn and community reactions to those responses.