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Diversity is an important concern at all levels of learning. This chapter discusses how acceptance of diversity and genuine inclusion of all learners does not happen easily; however, purposeful and collaborative experiences allowing various groups of students to interact with one another can be valuable. Personal impressions of the importance of diversity in classrooms are shared; in addition, a review of some related literature regarding the implications of cooperative experiences that engage students across cultures and languages is presented. Descriptions of two collaborative experiences in which pre-service teachers connected with refugees and International students are also shared. An especially important focus of this chapter is on how pre-service teachers benefit from multicultural experiences. Pre-service teachers were encouraged to consider biases and cultural differences while interacting with individuals from other countries, all of which might help them in their careers. International learners were also more connected to the learning community, and were inspired to learn more about the English language and American culture through social experiences with others. When intentional communication occurs, feelings of isolation might decrease and confidence can increase, thus creating a positive learning experience for all.

College students who are interested in experiencing and learning about other cultures could be potential agents to ongoing social and policy initiatives in promoting societal changes. As universities intensify their efforts toward embracing cultural diversity, it is imperative to gauge how these diversity initiatives resonate with students' developmental stage and pursuits in diverse campus climates. However, what kinds of educational experiences/contexts students choose for enhancing cultural competence, and how seeking diversity experiences might benefit college students in emotional wellbeing and cognitive skills, are under-investigated.

This study explores the relationships among college students' diversity-seeking behaviors, cultural competence, perspective-taking, and flourishing. A total of 359 college students from a STEM-focused university participated in this study. Students were recruited from classes over four semesters, from 2021 to 2023.

Students exhibited moderate to high levels of interest in seeking diversity in their learning experiences. Results from the structural equation modeling showed that higher levels of diversity-seeking in learning were associated with higher levels of perceived cultural competence, as well as higher levels of perspective-taking and flourishing.

This research delves into experiential and extracurricular dimensions of learning diversity, bridging a significant gap in academic literature. This study also elucidates the links between aspects of diversity engagement, cultural competence, and positive outcomes for college students, which underscores the significance of diversity-focused educational opportunities in higher education. Such opportunities are instrumental in enhancing cultural proficiency and further implications on cognitive growth and emotional well-being.

Despite an increasing number of studies focusing on workforce diversity, few consistent results and conclusions have yet been reached (Shore et al., 2009). The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrative model of diversity, taking the Upper Echelon Theory further.

The model proposed tests the influence of job-related and non-job-related (or task-related) top management team (TMT) diversity on firm performance and strategic change. The mediation effect of performance on the TMT diversity-strategic change relation is emphasized in the model. A covariance-based structural equation modelling has been used to test the relationships involved in the research model.

An inverse relation between prior organizational performance and strategic change is found and some TMT diversity predictors appear to be more relevant than others in explaining performance and strategic change. In addition the mediator role of performance significantly influences the TMT diversity composition-strategic change relation.

The paper makes several contributions to the existing literature on TMT diversity and the TMT diversity composition-firm performance-strategic change relation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine Muslim women’s decisions to wear headscarves, known as hijab, in the workplace. The decision to wear hijab may result in a stigmatized identity, so the paper also aims to examine perceived or experienced discrimination and impact on employment outcomes.

Using qualitative methodology to capture nuances, the study was based on demographic responses and semi‐structured interview questions by 79 Muslim women physicians and other healthcare professionals.

The paper finds that many factors influenced their decisions, but Muslim women had a wide variety of views in terms of the hijab and adherence to Islamic precepts. Those who wear hijab reported negative experiences of intolerance and discrimination. The decision to wear hijab was subsequently associated with perceived discrimination that would limit one’s employment opportunities.

Religion is one diversity categorization that can be invisible yet still has a significant impact on workers and their engagement in the workplace. Organizations engaged in strategic diversity initiatives may need to better understand specific nuances of diversity concerning religious expression and the potential psychological toll hiding those expressions may have on workers. The paper's findings have implications for personnel selection, training, and managing interpersonal relationships in the workplace.

Religious expression is an under‐studied workplace diversity facet, especially when disclosing religion is a choice that may result in being stigmatized. There has been research on workplace treatment of Muslims and the influences of spirituality, but no research that examined the decision to wear hijab and the associated workplace consequences.

This study developed and tested a moderated mediation model on workplace diversity management. The analysis examined whether diversity management affects job satisfaction via perceived discrimination, depending on employees' openness to experience.

Building upon the assumptions of social identity theory, social cognitive theory and Big-Five theory, this study proposed and tested a model that analyzes the process through which diversity management influences perceived visible diversity discrimination and job satisfaction, depending on employees' openness to experience.

This study found support for the proposed moderated mediation model, which suggests that diversity management interacts with employees' openness to experience personality to influence their job satisfaction through perceived visible diversity discrimination. The results indicated that diversity management increased employees' job satisfaction in the workplace and that the relationship between diversity management and job satisfaction was further mediated by employees' perceptions of being discriminated against because of their age, gender and racial identities. The effect of diversity management on job satisfaction through perceived visible diversity discrimination was stronger when employees had high levels of openness to experience.

The results of the study suggest that the diversity management is an important organizational intervention to improve job satisfaction by providing a scientific explanation of its underlying psychological process and identifying the factors associated with the process, such as personality and perception of being discriminated.

This study contributes to extend the diversity management literature by applying the assumptions of social identity theory, social cognitive theory and Big-Five theory together to identify the relationship between diversity management and job satisfaction and the effect of perceived discrimination and openness to experience in the relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate diversity conflict intersections and how the meanings of diversity markers such as gender and race might be transformed. It highlights the resources of South African women leaders in higher education institutions for doing so.

This study proceeds from a social constructivist perspective, seeking to uncover narrated conflict experiences via a hermeneutical approach.

Women leaders in South Africa experience diversity conflict across multiple intersecting diversity markers, such as gender, race, ethnicity and class. They are united by inner resources which, if utilized, might bring about transformation.

Intersectional approach to diversity conflict is a viable means for uncovering positive resources for transformation across intersecting diversity markers.

Practitioners wishing to overcome diversity conflict should identify positive resources across intersecting diversity markers. This way, organizations and individuals might bring about transformation.

In societal environment wherein one diversity marker is institutionalized on a structural level, such as race in South Africa, diversity conflict might be enlarged beyond its actual scope, thereby becoming insurmountable. This needs to be prevented.

This paper studies diversity conflict intersections in a highly diverse societal environment in organizations facing transformational challenges and from the perspective of women leaders.

Using the resource dependence and legitimacy theories, this research aims to examine the relationship between board attributes and human rights reporting, as well as the interaction effect of board chairperson experience on the relationship among listed firms at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

This study collected data from annual reports of firms listed on the NSE from 2009 to 2019 using content analysis to examine how boards influence human rights reporting. A total of 547 firm-year observations were used to test the hypotheses. This study used a hierarchical regression model to examine the relationship.

This study found that board attributes are important predictors of human rights reporting. This study shows that both board diversity and board independence have a positive impact on human rights reporting. Furthermore, the interaction results revealed that having a highly experienced chairperson strengthens the effect of board independence on human rights reporting; however, this study found that experienced chairperson reduces the influence of board diversity on human rights reporting.

The findings suggest that board diversity and independence are essential attributes to which listed companies should pay attention when appointing board members. Moreover, the chairperson's leadership on the board is critical in ensuring that publicly trading companies adopt policies that disclose human rights information.

This paper provides insights into Kenya's human rights disclosure practices. It also analyzes how boards influence human rights disclosures, an empirical test that has received little attention in the previous literature. This study emphasizes the importance of board members and the chairperson in advocating for human rights reporting to improve corporate sustainability.

In recent years, diversity and inclusion in higher education has become a topic of increased interest both nationally and internationally. Given the importance of this topic in today's world, it is surprising that the research is limited, especially with university students in the rural areas. This study examines on-campus students' perceptions of university diversity initiatives, and their value to the university environment.

Focus-group interviews with both undergraduate and graduate students from a public university in rural Michigan, USA, were conducted. Focus groups were used in this study because they are a particularly good method for generating discussion and stimulating ideas.

Overall, the participants identified several positive attitudes toward diversity and inclusion that included being accepting and respectful. However, it is significant that some participants are limited in their perceptions of culturally diverse backgrounds, which has resulted in some anxiety.

This study not only provides guidance to current institution administrators to create effective inclusive environments in their university. It can also be treated as a model for other rural universities, as building a successful inclusive environment in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of board human capital diversity on corporate innovation. Moreover, it examines the moderating effect of internal social capital on the relationship between board human capital diversity and corporate innovation.

The hypotheses are tested using a data set on Standard & Poor’s 1500 firms from 2000 to 2015. To overcome omit variable bias and reverse causality, this paper uses change-on-change regression by exploring the exogenous shock of the death of the directors.

Findings show that board industry diversity has a curvilinear relationship with corporate innovation. In addition, the board co-tenure experience, a key factor of internal social capital, can mitigate the risk of board industry diversity and improve corporate innovation.

Prior studies mostly considered the demographic dimension of diversity and, therefore, have overlooked how other dimensions influence firms. This paper considers the human capital dimension of board diversity and investigates the effect of board industry diversity on the firm’s innovation outcome. In addition, this paper also addresses the question of whether the interaction of different director attributes, namely, board human capital and board internal social capital, can complement each other to enhance corporate innovation.

The importance of the performance of a firm and the essential role played by the management in their accomplishment has been discussed and recognised by many researchers from Drucker to Upper Echelon Theory. Nonetheless, currently, anybody has been able to determine the precious and reliable parameters which let the firm achieve required-level performance. The confusion around this objective is still sufficient and the controversial has being growing widely over time, being the findings achieved contradictory, insufficient, imprecise and unreliable. Regarding the demographical literature findings focus on the premises previous related to Upper Echelon Theory. The purpose of this paper is to go further and try to test how, not only the level, but also the diversity of constructs like top management teams (TMT)'s demographic characteristics influence the firm performance accomplished by the managers by applying a Hierarchical Linear Regression Model.

Based on primary data from two Spanish databases – SABI, CNMV – and secondary data, a sample size of 147 TMTs in large companies from 18 industries sector with headquarters in Spain over a four years period (2004-2007) were obtained. The analysis focused on the total TMT for each firm. To test the relationship between the company performance and the demographic constructs, a more recent methodology based on hierarchical linear models (HLMs) using a longitudinal dataset of multinational big firms with headquarters in Spain was applied.

After applying the statistical techniques the results show a partial confirmation of the hypotheses formulated in the theoretical model proposed. First, the analysis evidences that company size is both highly correlated with TMT size and their demographic variables in terms of diversity. Second, the HLM shows that TMT's education-level diversity has a negative and significant impact on corporate performance and no significant effects for functionality and education background diversity have been found. Based on the accomplished findings, organisations appear to be more concerned about the employee's education level rather than their education background. Moreover, the model further supports that companies seem to be more aware of industry experience diversity than functionality diversity, also confirming a greater influence of the more international experience diversity of TMT on corporate performance.

This study offers a significant contribution not only by specifying a three-level hierarchical regression models regarding diverse approaches to measure the performance variable as dependent variable but also by considering as predictors not only the level of the demographic variables but also their diversity. This knowledge is relevant for entrepreneurial purposes since it highlights the achievement of high performance. The results allow us to explain which constructs influence the achievement of firm performance. Thus, this knowledge could be relevant to the entrepreneurs to encourage the firm survival and growth. Furthermore, focused on an ambitious purpose, it reveals the parameters needed to achieve to get the optimums performance level. Hence, the present study contributes an attempt to advance the literature on TMT composition by applying multi-level theory given the nested structure of the data set. The paper is one of few studies which apply panel data to analyse the influences of TMT characteristics on corporate performance and one of the first focused on Spanish entrepreneurial context.