Diversity Messages That Invite Allies to Diversity Efforts

Organizational diversity messages are essential for promoting inclusion and diversity. Yet, these messages can backfire because they are often met with noncompliance or resistance from dominant group members. The current research tests whether adding an ally invitation to diversity messages can mitigate this backlash by showing allies the role they can play in organizational diversity efforts. Seven studies (n = 6,404) support this theory. Study 1 found that dominant group member employees were more concerned than minority group member employees about whether they belong in and can contribute to diversity efforts in their current workplace. Five experiments then found that tailoring diversity messages to address these concerns (i.e., ally invitation diversity messaging) reduced dominant group members’ backlash compared to traditional diversity messages (Studies 2a, 2b, 3, 4, Supplemental Study 1) and no diversity messages (Study 4). Furthermore, ally invitation messaging can increase dominant group members’ anticipated involvement in diversity efforts (Study 5). Crucially, minorities responded as positively to the ally invitation message as traditional pro-diversity messages (Study 3). Together, these results suggest that diversity messages that highlight both diversity and the role of allies can effectively garner support from dominant group members and minorities and create more diverse workplaces.