The role of social identity, appraisal, and emotion in determining responses to diversity management

Abstract

In this article, we address the question of why employees may resist or support any aspect of diversity management. More specifically, we propose a dynamic model that explains how and why specific social identities triggered by diversity management influence employees appraisals of diversity management, in turn eliciting specific emotions and specific behavioral responses such as resistance or support to various implementations of diversity management policies and practices. We rely on Intergroup Emotion Theory (IET) as the overarching theoretical framework, which draws from Social Identity Theory (SIT) and appraisal theories of emotion. The contribution of our model is to provide an additional lens to the diversity literature, moving from emotive reactions to diversity to emotional yet rational responses, which may be further understood via the iterative nature of the model. We discuss implications for future research.