Diversity courses in management education: A game experimental approach to the assessment of course needs

Abstract

Abstract In response to concerns about the appropriate design and implementation of diversity courses, business schools have started to use needs assessments in order to identify topics of high priority. However, many needs assessment approaches rely on self-report attitudinal measures that are potentially plagued by self-presentation and social desirability biases. An alternative to self-reports are unobtrusive observations of actual behavior that reduce the potential for self-presentation. This paper presents a needs assessment framework describing how the trust game and the dictator game adopted from experimental economics can help measure discrimination, distinguish between stereotypes and prejudice, and determine appropriate diversity training methods accordingly. The purpose of this paper is to show how behavioral measures can complement attitudinal measures in the needs assessment process. The overall recommendation emanating from this paper is that diversity educators in business schools rely less on self-report measures and use more behavioral indicators in their attempts to design more effective diversity courses and programs.