Abstract:

Employee Resource Groups, or ERGs, are common in organizations. These ‘internal communities’ of employees, typically organized around a shared identity or interest (e.g., around race, ethnicity, gender), are now in approximately 90% of Fortune 500 companies. ERGs are popular in part because they have the potential to promote EDI in organizations. Previous work suggests these beneficial effects can emerge when, for example, ERGs: (i) foster connections between employees who share a common marginalized social identity, (ii) help in the recruitment of new employees from marginalized social groups, and (iii) facilitate opportunities for networking, leadership development and career advancement, including most notably for members of traditionally underrepresented groups.

In this talk, Chris will discuss a series of initial studies (1 longitudinal study, 3 pre-registered experiments) suggesting another key function that ERGs may play: as an incubator for in-house activism – that is, a space for fostering heightened vigilance to persisting forms of bias and inequality in the organization, and strengthening employee’s motivation to speak up and call out these continuing inequalities (i.e., engage in ‘in-house’ or organization-focused collective actions). Bridging theory on intragroup relations and collective action, these studies show that when individuals have high-quality interactions with individuals from a shared, marginalized social group (members of one’s own racial/ethnic minority group), it positively affects their sense of value to the group and, in turn, their willingness to engage in collective action. They also show how these processes feed into other established determinants of collective action (as outlined in the social identity model of collective action; SIMCA). Stemming from this initial evidence, Chris will discuss how in organizational contexts ERGs may facilitate these same high-quality interactions and thus heighten employees’ attention to persisting forms of injustice at work, and ultimately their willingness to take action against it. In this way, ERGs may serve as an important incubator for in-house (organization-focused) activism.

Overall, this suggests ERGs could help boost EDI by, perhaps counterintuitively, highlighting all the ways that an organization falls short – putting a spotlight on the forms of inequality that persist, and galvanizing employees to demand greater action from their organizational leaders. While this may be an uncomfortable spotlight for leaders to stand in, it is arguably a critical one for promoting true diversity and inclusion.

General information:

Attendance to this seminar is possible by invitation only. Please send an e-mail to secbs-abs@uva.nl if your are interested in attending this seminar.