Enhancing the Representation of Women: How Gender Diversity Signals and Acknowledgement Affect Attraction to Men-Dominated Professions

Abstract

While organizations around the world recognize the importance of gender diversity and inclusion, many struggle to reach gender parity (Sneader & Yee, 2020). Particularly, women account for less than 15% of all sworn police officers (Donohue Jr, 2020). Considering signaling theory and novel research in organizational impression management, we examined the utility of various recruitment messaging techniques for attracting women job seekers to professions dominated by men, at both a consulting firm and law enforcement agency. Women evaluating consulting firm materials perceived greater behavioral integrity and were subsequently more attracted to the organization if recruitment messages included both high gender diversity signals and an explicit acknowledgement of the lack of gender diversity. With the law enforcement agency, a direct effect of the proposed interaction was identified, in that women were more attracted to police recruitment materials signaling gender diversity and explicitly acknowledging the lack of gender diversity within the agency. Materials had no adverse effect on men’s attraction. Last, research questions surrounding person-organization fit and risk propensity were analyzed to further explore the acknowledgement tactic.