Diversity Management in Public Organizations and Its Effect on Employees’ Affective Commitment

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the link between diversity management in public organizations and employees’ affective commitment by testing hypotheses on the mediating roles of transformational leadership and inclusive organizational culture. By combining theories on human resource management and performance with theories on diversity and inclusiveness, a theoretical model is built explaining when and why diversity management should positively affect employees’ affective commitment. Survey data from a representative sample of 10,976 Dutch public sector employees were used in testing our hypotheses using structural equation modeling techniques. Results show that the effect of diversity management on employees’ affective commitment can partially be explained by its impact on the inclusiveness of the organizational culture. In addition, the impact is influenced through the transformational leadership shown by supervisors who can be considered as the implementers of diversity management and as agents in creating inclusiveness. The implications for future research and management practice are further discussed.