Ideology and Organizational Dynamics: Clarifying and Generalizing Our Argument on “Woke” Companies

Olenick and Somaraju (O&S) criticize the arguments in our paper “Why do companies go woke?” (Foss & Klein, 2023). They claim that “woke” attitudes and behaviors are simply an extension of previous social and cultural practices in organizations and that we fail to appreciate the contributions of the existing diversity literature (Olenick & Somaraju, 2023). Our reply is twofold. First, we briefly restate our argument to show that O&S misinterpret and misrepresent our core claims concerning the nature and implications of the modern diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement. Second, we engage their broader arguments about intraorganizational dynamics and, in doing so, generalize our own analysis about the “woke company.” While O&S are correct to highlight attraction–selection–attrition processes in organizations and the conformity-inducing forces that exist in any social group, their argument omits (a) the importance of ideology in transforming DEI policies, (b) the role of internal stakeholders who pushed such policies internally, and (c) how the unique combination of these forces has made corporations “woke.” The broader point is that while research has pointed to the role of institutions as well as the role of internal dynamics in shaping organizational behaviors, the role of ideology in shaping these forces has been relatively neglected.