The Journal of Business Diversity (JBD) is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge by publishing, through a blind, refereed process, ongoing analysis, study and results that address nontraditional demographic characteristics such as age, gender and ethnicity that influence company policies. JBD is inclusive, & practical, and encourages active interaction between academics, managers, and consultants performing in diverse business settings. The scope encompasses policy analysis and best practices in large and small enterprises, public and private sector service organizations, state and national government, and local and regional societies and economies with special emphasis on linking academic research to future practice. Articles are written by business leaders, policy analysts and active researchers for an audience of specialists, practitioners and students. Articles of regional interest are welcome, especially those dealing with lessons that may be applied in other regions around the world. This would include, but not limited to areas of marketing, management, finance, accounting, management information systems, human resource management, organizational theory and behavior, operations management, economics, or any of these disciplines in an international context.
Capital and Black Entrepreneurship: Distinct Ways That Capital Manifests Among Black Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners
The study employed a community cultural wealth framework and examined the distinct use of cultural capital by Black entrepreneurs. Using qualitative investigation, including interviews with 42 participants, I explored cultural capital utilized by the sample and the role of identity negotiation and maintenance. Findings showcased complex dynamics centered around cultural capital, namely, familial, resistance, and aspirational capital, where Black entrepreneurs relied on community and social support, mentorship, and exercised intentional measures to counter discriminatory practices. Outcomes demonstrated that Black entrepreneurs, despite not being historically afforded generalized types of capital, utilized cultural capital to engage with consumers and showcase their identity, thus elevating their business endeavors.
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Business Diversity
Peer Support and Job Satisfaction Among Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Women in Israel’s Hi-Tech and Finance Industries
This study examines the relationship between peer support and job satisfaction among ultra-Orthodox women in Israel’s hi-tech and finance sectors. Addressing a research gap, the study employed a quantitative survey (n = 155) grounded in social identity theory. Peer support was found to be a statistically significant but modest predictor of job satisfaction. Mediation analysis identified appraisal as the strongest mechanism linking peer support to satisfaction. Salary consistently influenced job satisfaction, and the data revealed pay disparity between this population and others in these fields. Findings highlight the crucial role of appraisal-driven peer support in enhancing workforce satisfaction and success.
Grade Inflation Trends in the Principles of Financial Accounting Class Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Disruption: DEIB, Course Delivery Modalities, and Faculty Employment Status
This study considers grade inflation before, during, and following the COVID-19 disruption within a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) framework focusing on the first principles of financial accounting class. Findings indicate that there was an identifiable trend of grade inflation before the pandemic alongside a significant marginal effect concurrent with the COVID-19 disruption followed by a return to normality in the post-pandemic timeframe. Importantly, the disaggregated data demonstrated no significant variations across course modality and instructor employment status with respect to the studied sub-groups of students providing evidence that grade inflation does not have an inequitable impact.
Diversity at a Crossroads: A Study of Public Company Audit Partners
In light of recent pushback against DEI initiatives, this study benchmarks diversity among public company audit partners prior to a potential inflection point. Using PCAOB AuditorSearch data from 2019 and 2023, we find that in 2023, 68% of SEC audit partners were white males, 21% white females, and 11% from racial or ethnic minority groups. SEC engagements are among the most prestigious and lucrative in public accounting. Our findings reveal a modest increase in partner diversity since 2019 and aim to inform discussions on current levels and trajectories along with the impact of DEI policy changes in the accounting profession.
Bridging Academia and Industry: The Influence of Student Club Engagement on Workplace Diversity, Inclusion, and Skill Development
Demonstrating a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and a sense of belonging remains an organizational strategy to address inequalities in the workplace. Academic institutions play a role in aiding organizations to build a capable workforce that can navigate and contribute within diverse settings. Several microcosms exist within the academic world that have implications for the workplace, among these include student engagement and leadership in extracurricular activities, such as student clubs. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding the influence of student-club leader diversity on club demographic composition that needs to be explored. This narrative review serves as a call to action for future research to investigate these considerations and the potential influences and benefits to the workplace. Furthermore, this narrative highlights the documented benefits of student club participation in the workplace, including improved employee skill development, increased ability to collaborate and think critically, and enhanced workplace retention.
Liabilities of Newness and Smallness in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: What Liabilities?
The most significant improvement in productivity is the division of labor powered by technology. The speed at which businesses adopt, assimilate, and disseminate these technologies impacts their survival. Size has been identified as a major factor that affects the speed and rate of technology adoption. Despite the contribution of small businesses to the world’s economy, access to resources has constrained their growth, making them appear small, less legitimate, and more prone to failure. Artificial intelligence is helping small businesses gain legitimacy and overcome some of the liabilities of smallness and newness. Artificial Intelligence is a system created to analyze data and perform specific tasks through human-like decision-making processes and has significantly impacted organizations, societies, and individuals. AI adoption and benefits are not fully understood since existing literature is in its infancy and fragmented. Multiple or recurring Gartner’s Hype Cycles makes AI technology adoption different from general technology adoption. Moreover, with AI technology adoption, size and incumbency may not be advantageous to large businesses. Implications and future research directions are discussed.
Closing the Gap: Strategies for Advancing Gender Equity in the Workplace
This study examines U.S.-based organizations advancing gender equity (GE) in the workplace amid shifting political and societal attitudes toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Using Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) with 80 HR leaders, we identify practices that are helping to advance GE. Regression analysis shows mentoring programs significantly correlate with equitable pay and reduced gender pay gaps. Qualitative findings highlight three mentoring outcomes - leadership skill development, network building, and goal setting with feedback - as key drivers of increased gender equity. Results inform best practices for closing the gender gap in U.S. organizations.
HR Professionals and Higher Ed Instructors Review Hybrid Courses and Interdisciplinary Job Requirements Relating to Generation Z and Work-Life Balance
This study focuses on Generation Z employees and students. Within the contents this project reviews the limitations of jobs that can be conducted virtually and those that cannot. What the author considered was the variations between generations that can influence the way organizations recruit and develop work teams. Human Resource professionals are dealing with such generational differences because they must constantly deal with change, motivation, technology and the leadership of employees. While life-work balance varies among the generations making HR an important factor in human relations and seeking out what employees can offer an organization beside of their specialty such as soft skills. Higher education professionals need to keep abreast of the HR managers’ needs of how a broader range of skills are required along with the fact companies are in a technology driven environment whereby these professionals expect employees to be equipped to completely utilize the power of technologies needed within the workplace. Higher education curriculum construction professionals will be hard pressed if not prepared and willing to realize job hybridization is here to stay and not going away. Included in the study is how soft skills merge into job skills and HR managers job requirements have become interdisciplinary. .
How Are We Fulfilling the Human Need for Social Belonging in the Workplace?
Social belonging is an essential human need, deeply ingrained in our nature. However, 40% of individuals report feeling isolated at work, leading to decreased organizational commitment and engagement. In the U.S., businesses invest nearly $8 billion annually in diversity and inclusion (D&I) training, yet these efforts often fall short by overlooking the crucial need for genuine inclusion. In this paper we review the importance of belonging and evolution of various methods and research studies in this field.
Exploring Gender Differences in Job Satisfaction: Insights From Utah and the United States
This study examines gender differences in job satisfaction by comparing responses from men and women in Utah to those across the broader United States. Using data from a web-based survey of 566 respondents, the research investigates how geographical context influences perceptions of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, work-life balance, and workplace relationships. Findings reveal significant variations in job satisfaction by gender, with contextual differences in Utah providing unique insights into regional workplace dynamics. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of how gender and location intersect to shape employee experiences and offer practical implications for organizations aiming to foster equitable and satisfying work environments.
Corporate Psychological Responsibility (CPR) and DEI
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) faces political scrutiny as organizations are asked to eliminate DEI platforms. Organizations should focus DEI initiatives into a more systematic and holistic approach where DEI is embedded into its foundation. This manuscript discusses Corporate Psychological Responsibility (CPR) (Sweet & Wagner, 2023) as a framework that assimilates DEI goals within a broader organizational responsibility. CPR, built from motivational theory, promotes fair treatment but also fosters environments that lead to employee motivation. By utilizing CPR’s framework, organizations can minimize systemic inequities by offering a framework for employees to recognize, support, and report DEI concerns.
Corporate Psychological Responsibility (CPR)
Why May ‘68 in France Faltered— The Logistical Limits of a Libertarian Utopia
The success and longevity of large-scale social movements depend not only on the strength of their ideologies or the intensity of their demands, but also on their ability to organize, sustain, and adapt logistical support for participants. Using the May ‘68 movement in France as an analytical lens, this article examines the material foundations of protest—such as food, shelter, and medical care—as critical factors that can either reinforce collective resilience or accelerate a movement’s decline. It argues that managing flows is not a peripheral concern but a structuring element that remains too often overlooked in scholarly analysis. By bridging the sociology of social movements with the field of logistics management, the article reveals a persistent blind spot in conventional approaches: the strategic importance of resources and their circulation in sustaining activist engagement. This materialist reinterpretation of protest invites a rethinking of mobilization not only as an ideological endeavor, but also as an operational one—rooted in the anticipation, coordination, and distribution of essential flows capable of accommodating organizational complexity, actors’ diversity, and shifting conditions on the ground.
Questioning the Theory of the Firm: The Challenge of Hybrid, Social and Faith-Based Businesses
In light of the diversity of hybrid, social, and faith-based enterprises, the paper aims to deepen and widen the descriptive and normative reach of the theory of the firm. Higher ends of business are core philosophical components for an expanded normative theory of the firm. To regard shareholders, managers, and all stakeholders of a business firm in a fully moral light means expanding one’s view of such roles beyond merely economic and legal conceptions to encompass their full humanity and associated moral obligations and social responsibilities. Any adequate normative theory of the firm will cast business participants not just as economic actors and as legal agents but as flesh-and-blood moral persons with ethical responsibilities. When the theory of the firm is normativized – not privileging moral rights and obligations of stockholders or stakeholders in advance of consideration of balance of reasons -- the false dichotomy of shareholder primacy versus stakeholder primacy falls away, ceasing to provide a basis for giving categorically incompatible accounts of prima facie moral obligations of business participants.
Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Business Diversity
The Italian Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 2021-2026, the Women, and Their Health
For women, the Italian Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026 has meant the strengthening of important policies for work and maternity. For women’s health, this Plan with the National Health Equity Program 2021-2027 have meant addressing the shortcomings of territorial and gender medicine, the regional gaps in the provision of the Essential Levels of Care of the National Health Service and strengthening the screenings for female cancers. The paper highlights how after the conclusion of these plans, the Italian National Health Service will have to identify a long-term strategy to ensure uniformity of services for women ’s health in all Italian regions.
Italian Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021–2026
National Health Equity Program 2021–2027
Contribution of Women in Household Income— Based Perspective on Production
Analyses by family type based on age brackets are useful for structural analysis. We confirmed substantial wage-earning differences between the sexes, full- and part-timers, and large-work hour differences between the sexes. Unpaid work using opportunity cost is generally underestimated because of the Japanese seniority-based wage system. Then, we tried to make adjusted indices to account for wage-earnings and work-our differentials. We compare three kinds of income –market income, broad income (including unpaid work values) and adjusted income--in terms of the contribution of married women to family income. The disproportionate burden placed on women was highlighted.
women’s contribution to household production
How Female-Owned SMEs in Uganda Maximise on Social Capital to Strengthen Their Businesses
The aim of this paper was to explore the extent to which female entrepreneurs in Uganda maximise on social capital by aligning with multiple stakeholders such as customers, government representatives, communities, higher education institutions (HEIs), and the wider public among others, to strengthen their businesses for long-term economic performance. A case study approach was adopted, during which semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate a sample of three socially oriented female-owned Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operating in Uganda’s Central, Northern and Western regions. Findings suggest that social capital must be tackled holistically by engaging productively with both primary and secondary stakeholders within the wider entrepreneurial context to realise a broad range of benefits. The author contributes a comprehensive partnership framework populated with practical insights from the three female-owned SMEs and presents intricacies of how social capital externalities can be monitored and measured by existing and upcoming SMEs while demonstrating how innovative business-level collaborations contribute to sustained growth.
Internet Access and Independent Contracting Through the 2010s: A Varied Tale How Uptake and Returns Differ Across Demographics, Income Levels, and Time
The internet led to the proliferation of platforms that connect workers to individuals and firms seeking assistance and significantly increased independent contractor rates across the income and skill spectrum. Consequently, communities that adopted the internet earlier or at higher rates may have higher rates of contracting. Using data from the FCC on mobile and broadband internet rates, I examine their relationship with business earnings reported to the IRS from 2010 to 2019. Local race and ethnicity characteristics interact with internet measures and show that counties with higher minority concentrations have a higher correlation between internet expansion and growth in independent contractors. However, they do not reap as high growth rates in contractor earnings as predominantly white counties. Further, results show the relationship between growth in independent contractor earnings shifts mid-decade, with declines in growth observed post-internet expansion in the latter half of the 2010s.
Social Media as a Pathway to Entrepreneurial Success: Overcoming Barriers for Black Women Entrepreneurs
This study examines social media's significant yet challenging role as a tool for entrepreneurial success among Black women entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is a powerful pathway to social and economic mobility, offering underrepresented groups opportunities for financial independence and influence. Social media platforms have opened up avenues for brand building, customer engagement, and business scaling. Still, Black women face obstacles in leveraging these opportunities such as algorithmic bias, underrepresentation, and social barriers. This paper explores these challenges and the strategic approaches Black women entrepreneurs can employ to build a robust social media presence despite systemic limitations. It also provides policy recommendations to mitigate these barriers' impact and calls for targeted support from government and private sector initiatives, including education on platform algorithms and inclusive design. Finally, empirical research directions are proposed to deepen understanding of how Black women utilize social media for opportunity recognition and business performance.
The Economic History & Urban Geography of Race Relations in Detroit: Movement of Capital, White Resistance and Immobility of Black Labor
Detroit's intertwined history of deindustrialization and racial segregation is often explored separately. In The Origins of the Urban Crises (1996), Thomas Sugrue examines post-WWII job losses and housing discrimination without elucidating why and how the city came to experience the abrupt flight of capital in that period. Conversely, Murray and Schwartz's Wrecked (2019) details the catalysts for Detroit's deindustrialization but neglects its impact on the African-American community. This paper aims to bridge these perspectives by utilizing various secondary sources and archival evidence to analyze how concurrent discrimination and economic decline have maintained the persistent segregation between Detroit and its suburbs.
Examining the Influence of Employee Activation on Gender Differences in Employee Engagement
This study analyzes survey data from over 500 U.S. employees to investigate how key workplace determinants uniquely relate to engagement for men and women, to address gaps in research examining potential gender variations in the drivers of discretionary effort at work. Traditional predictors like fulfillment of basic needs, individual contributions, teamwork, and growth were examined alongside the emerging construct of “worker activation,” reflecting empowering organizational cultures that motivate extra effort, which is hypothesized to significantly predict engagement across genders when incorporated into engagement models. Analyses include descriptive tests, regression models evaluated separately by gender, and assessments of activation variable impacts between genders, with findings revealing modest yet significant male-female disparities in average engagement levels, the multi-dimensional nature of engagement determinants across genders, and activation’ s cross-cutting importance in predicting engagement, validating refined conceptualization and offering implications for optimally designing inclusive strategies to inspire discretionary commitment and employee engagement.
Business Sustainability Among Women Entrepreneurs in Ghana
There is a problem among women entrepreneurs in Ghana caused by the lack of training among women’s entrepreneurs that includes social, cultural, economic, political, demographic, institutional, and technological support. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory multiple case study was to explore business strategies that women entrepreneurs in Ghana need to learn to make their business sustainable beyond 5 years. Ten successful women entrepreneurs from 5 industries in Ghana, who had the training, experience, and information to understand the causes of business failure and had applied that information to gain business sustainability beyond 5 years were recruited. Data analysis involved triangulation, member checking, and Yin’s 5 steps. Key findings were change management and adaptation, agility and flexibility in operations, analysis of stakeholders, creation of business policies and objectives, designing and executing digital implementation plan, developing and supporting corporate culture, developing and measuring performance standards, and enhancing internal control and processes. Findings could reduce poverty and increase women’s employment, sustainability in women-owned businesses, community development, and the standard of living.
A Generational Preference for Preferred Work Arrangement and the Relationship With Employee Engagement and Turnover Intention
The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of generational preferred work arrangements and the impact on employee engagement and turnover intent. Through analysis of 252 participant responses, this study examined differences between generational cohorts currently in the workforce with regard to engagement, preferred work arrangement and turnover intention. Results indicated a difference in employee engagement among Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Generation Z workers, but no differences in preferred work arrangement and intent to stay with the organization. However, there was a difference in Generation X employees’ preferred work arrangement and intent to stay.
The Equality Agenda: A Clear Case of Smoke and Mirrors
In his book “The madness of crowds: gender, race and identity,” the author Douglas Murray (2020) suggests that much of contemporary society is obsessed with a particular idea of diversity and equality that is all-encompassing and all-consuming. Embedded in current social policy, it is a view, he argues, that propagates the belief that ‘everybody is the same above the neck’ and that: ‘everybody is equal and […] given the right encouragement and opportunity, everybody can be whatever they want; that life is entirely about environment, opportunity, and privilege.’ In this work I trace the broad outline of the emerging equality agenda as it occurred in America and the UK with a particular emphasis on Northern Ireland and argue Murray (2020) is wrong in his assessment. The work highlights the differences between the two countries. It claims equality of opportunity, understood here as improved education, healthcare, childcare etc. and equality of outcome, are more rhetoric than reality.
To Conceal or to Reveal? Antecedents of Ethnic Minority Family Businesses’ Use of Ethnic Branding
The family business branding literature identifies numerous benefits to communicating family ownership. However, existing studies have omitted ethnic minority family businesses (EMFB), which present unique identity and cultural considerations. We examine potential antecedents to EMFB use of ethnic branding, which features their ethnicity within marketing communications. The study establishes a significant positive relationship between EMFB owners’ ethnic identification and socioemotional wealth (SEW), and between EMFB owners’ SEW and ethnic branding usage. Product ethnicity moderates the latter relationship such that a match between product ethnicity and EMFB ethnicity increases the likelihood of ethnic branding. Managerial and theoretical implications are further discussed.
An Examination of Supplemental Instruction (SI) Within the Context of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB): The Principles of Financial Accounting Course
This research presents empirical findings associated with the delivery of peer-supported supplemental instruction in the undergraduate principles of financial accounting course. Attention is directed at the differential effects for treatments between and within diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) groupings through empirical assessments for all students and specific subsets that represent targets of a statewide initiative. Demographic groups were formed and assessed by students of color, international students, underrepresented status, and first-generation students. Results reveal positive impacts for students as a whole as well as DEIB groups. This investigation provides evidence and a solid framework for ongoing efforts to eliminate educational gaps.
Female Founding: An Institutional Theory Perspective on the Effect of Gender-Specific Prejudices in Germany
This research is focused on whether female entrepreneurs face institutional discrimination based on prejudices. Therefore, in consideration of the institutional theory, this paper aims to clarify how informal institutions, such as norms, values and attitudes of society impact female entrepreneurship. To visualize these informal norms, values and attitudes of society towards women, common prejudices against women were utilized. In-depth interviews with female entrepreneurs (n = 19) were conducted and an inductive qualitative analysis was performed to examine the extent to which societal perceptions and attitudes, expressed through prejudices, regarding the education and entrepreneurial skills of women, influence the motivation and self-perception of female entrepreneurs. The results revealed that the analyzed prejudices represent obsolete social perceptions against women without validity and justification. However, the results demonstrate the negative influence – directly or indirectly – of prejudices on the behavior, career choices, motivation, and self-perception of female entrepreneurs. The results provide possible explanations for the differences between women and men in entrepreneurship and thus advance the discussion on the underrepresentation of women in entrepreneurial settings.
The Influence of Employee Activation on Gender Differences in Job Satisfaction
This study explored gender differences in job satisfaction and the role of employee activation determinants. A survey of 566 U.S. workers found partial support for prior findings, with men reporting higher job satisfaction than women. Regression analyses revealed employee activation variables, including engagement, meaning, belongingness, leadership, and career meaning, predicted satisfaction for both genders. However, certain activation aspects were more influential for women, supporting that non-traditional factors increasingly drive satisfaction. The findings reinforce the complex, evolving relationship between gender and satisfaction in today’s workplace. Organizations seeking to enhance satisfaction and performance should focus on cultivating high activation among all employees.
The Impact of Male Guardianship on Arab Women’s Careers in the United Arab Emirates
Arab countries have taken numerous steps to increase women’s labor force participation. Yet, according to many Arab countries’ labor laws, Muslim women are required to provide their potential employers a written permission to work from their legal male guardians (Mahram in Arabic). Her economic participation or career development would not be possible without Mahram’s permission. This study aims to broaden the understanding of the impact of family members on Arab women’s careers by exploring the factors that are important for Mahrams when considering allowing their female family members to work. This paper challenges the conventional career choice theories, such as the social cognitive career theory, by addressing one of its major shortcomings: the question of how free individuals are in their career choices.
Uncovering the Motives and Essentials of Nascent Women Entrepreneurs
The aim of this article is to delve into women entrepreneurs’ motivations and perceptions of what is needed to achieve entrepreneurial success. Through semi-structured interviews, we found that most participants reported multiple reasons for wanting to be an entrepreneur; these motives were categorized as external and internal. Results also show what attributes and actions these women believe are critical to success. Our study contributes to the field by employing a qualitative design that uncovered the richness and diversity of women’s experiences in becoming business owners. The findings have implications for policymakers and organizations seeking to advance women entrepreneurship.
Achieving Organizational Metamorphosis Through Developing a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiative
Today’s workforce reflects and will continue to reflect diversity. If these changes represent America’s future demographic reality, organizations will undergo a massive metamorphosis. A questionnaire was submitted to 300 business students to assess their attitudes towards diversity. Specifically, it investigates whether there is a difference in attitude and assesses whether business students are open to working with an increasingly diverse workforce. The study’s results support the hypotheses that different ethnic groups value diversity differently, and that the more years living in a diverse country, the more individuals increase their diversity tolerance. Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives increase in popularity since they build awareness and skills that help cultivate a safe, compassionate, and equitable organizational culture where everyone feels valued. This article discusses implementing a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative to improve an organization’s culture. The five-step DEI Organizational Metamorphosis Model explores how to strengthen an organization’s quality of life through implementing strategic DEI initiatives.