Diversity, Polarization, and Recruiting

Abstract

In this dissertation, I elucidate (1) tension associated with employers’ efforts to diversify applicant pools and (2) strategies whereby firms navigate this tension. In the first chapter, I present a novel theory as to why firms position on divisive, diversity-related social issues. In the second chapter, I examine whether growing labor market diversity reduces the extent to which workers from historically dominant groups are drawn to employers that make pro-diversity claims. In the final chapter, I examine whether flatter organizational structures enhance or reduce applicant pool diversity. Throughout, I use field, survey, and natural/quasi-experimental methods, which provide grounds for credible causal inference. I also outline an emergent stream of research in which I am examining the extent, origins, and implications of political de-diversification (i.e., sorting by political partisanship) in the United States labor market.