Editorial 30.1: Diverse and inclusive workplaces

In editorials 29.3 (Topić, 2024b) and 29.2 (Topić, 2024a), I already discussed workplace culture, inclusivity and innovation as important features of the organisational world. An important aspect of workplace culture is fostering inclusivity and making employees feel valued. Workplace culture, as a term, commonly refers to “a company’s prevailing values, attitudes, beliefs, artifacts and behaviours that contribute to its sense of order, continuity and commitment” (Haworth, 2006; cited from Cole et al., 2014, p. 786). This also means that the workplace culture consists of shared values, understandings and norms, which should, ideally, be shared by both employees and managers (DiMaggio, 1994). A conflict in workplace culture happens “if the institution is based on a different set of values and assumptions”, which leads to the situation that employees feel “dissatisfied, distracted, uncomfortable and uncommitted” (Newman and Nollen, 1996, p. 755). Therefore, what happens when organisations engage in corporate social advocacy (CSA)? In this issue, two papers studied CSA. Keonyoung Park, Shivangi Asthana and Songli Nie explored the relationship between CSA and employee trust and distrust, focusing on perceived employer support for the #StopAsianHate movement, which emerged because of discrimination against the Asian population in the USA following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Asian population was discriminated against due to the first cases of COVID-19 being recorded in Wuhan, China, and discrimination also resulted in a mass shooting of eight Asians in Atlanta in March 2021 (Lee and Jang, 2021; Ho et al., 2020). Some businesses responded to the rise of hatred of Asians and expressed public support, such as Nike, Paypal, Clinique and HBO (General, 2021), and this support can be seen as CSA since it focused on a particular socio-political issue and since this movement has not achieved mass support in the USA (Pew Research Center, 2021). The authors studied how perceived CSA relates to employee perceptions and engagement in the workplace, with a particular focus on how employees perceive their companies’ engagement in CSA, specifically the #StopAsianHate movement, to what extent do these perceptions influence trust and distrust toward their employers and how do trust and distrust, in turn, affect employees’ workplace engagement? Using an online survey (N = 798) of full-time employees in the USA, the authors argue that “CSA initiatives were found to be positively related to both trust and distrust by employees. Trust was significantly positively connected to employee engagement cognitively, emotionally and physically in the workplace, mediating the relationship between CSA and employee engagement”. Reactions to CSA initiatives were influenced by pre-existing attitudes towards both the company and the issue, and individuals who oppose CSA or disagree with the message of the Asian movement potentially experience cognitive dissonance when their employers advocate for the issue, which leads to distrust (Xu et al., 2024; Rim et al., 2022). This study suggests that “high levels of perceived CSA engagement likely reflect employees’ recognition of their employers’ visible support for #StopAsianHate. However, for employees whose views do not align with this stance, strong advocacy may heighten their perception of the employer’s dissimilarity to their values, fostering distrust. These findings emphasise the need for organisations to understand diverse employee perspectives when engaging in CSA. Effective internal communication that acknowledges and addresses these differences can help mitigate distrust. Moreover, fostering an inclusive environment where diverse opinions are respected might reduce the negative impacts of CSA on employee relations”. Seoyeon Kim, Lucinda L. Austin and Barbara Miller Gaither explored how consumer response to corporations that take a stand (or not) on social/political issues – varied by “fit” between the company and the advocated issue – was mediated by perceptions of the motives for the advocacy. Using an experimental method on a representative sample of USA consumers, the authors argue that “the effect of corporate stand-taking on perceived corporate hypocrisy was moderated by company-issue fit. Also, companies were viewed as more hypocritical when taking a stand on an issue that was less relevant to the company’s business, despite the CSA being seen as being values-driven”. The authors also argue that companies may need to revisit their current CSA practices and critically evaluate them for implications and not feel pressured to act and say something about an issue that might not be perceived as a good fit and where there is no history of advocacy. For example, one survey has found that following the Roe vs Wade overturn of the USA Supreme Court, 26% of USA companies felt pressured to respond to the decision, and it remains unclear whether many of those that did respond faced accusations of hypocrisy (The Conference Board, 2022). These two papers show the importance of workplace culture and aligning values within workplaces and then engaging with fostering these values externally. Doing this helps employees feel engaged, and it reduces the risk of organisational reputation harm because of hypocrisy perception. Workplace culture never existed outside of a broader cultural context, and it has always influenced internal practices such as dress code, ethics and workplace behaviours, the latter being particularly visible in informal organisational structures such as banter and social interactions in workplaces (Topić, 2023). This also means that as societal circumstances change, the workplace culture changes over time, and whilst some workplace culture aspects are passed from one generation to the other, there is a natural evolution that also happens in response to societal changes (Inglehart, 1997; Inglehart and Welzel, 2005). Therefore, engaging with CSA comes as a natural evolution of organisational culture; however, organisations need to be careful not to create negative perceptions among consumers as well as employees. Organisational research has argued for a long time that when employees feel valued, listened to and empowered, they are more engaged and satisfied with their jobs, retention rates and loyalty to the organisation improve and work productivity increases (Bashshur and Oc, 2015; Ruck et al., 2017).Scholarship also reveals that women and ethnic minorities face workplace disadvantages, and historical barriers have played a role in creating and maintaining these barriers (Tench et al., 2017; Topić et al., 2020; Vasquez and Neill, 2023a, b). Leadership development is also lacking in many organisations, and scholars report that managers in mass communication industries are mainly male and white despite attracting a large number of women and national demographics not mirroring only whiteness. For example, in the USA, 42% of the USA population is of diverse origin (Jensen et al., 2021), and yet the public relations industry has 82.1% of managers identifying as white (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023). Whilst data show that women generally face discrimination in PR (Topić et al., 2020; Topić, 2021), women of colour report even less inclusion, with some studies showing that women of colour have less access to leadership development such as mentoring and on-the-job training (Meng and Neill, 2021b). In a new and innovative study published in this issue, Marlene S. Neill, Rosalynn A. Vasquez, Sharee L. Broussard and Chris M. Gent explore diversity and leadership by looking at the accreditation process. They studied the impact of the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) certification on the leader development of USA diverse practitioners. Using six online focus groups (N = 64) that identified as diverse practitioners who support and mentor diverse candidates and the theoretical framework of self-efficacy and a lifelong learning mindset, the authors identified specific knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) that they developed through the APR study process, which is consistent with those desired in leaders such as technical, relationship management and conceptual skills. The authors argue that “not only did diverse practitioners become more strategic thinkers and skilled in the public relations planning process, but they also were promoted or hired into management positions. Effective mentors were key to their success. These findings confirm that the APR can be a form of leader development for diverse public relations practitioners that opens doors to management positions. However, employers need to provide instrumental support for diverse practitioners to be successful, such as covering costs associated with the exam, providing study time and supporting their membership in professional associations”. Frank Lefley and Vaclav Janecek write about board gender diversity (BGD) in the context of the critical mass theory. The authors explored the level of support and expanded on the issues recently raised in the literature concerning critical mass theory and BGD by analysing available literature (2016–2024). The findings show compelling evidence supporting the critical mass theory and underscore the importance of corporate BGD in today’s society, and the authors highlight the performance benefits of corporate BGS, which, in many cases, only exist when there is a critical mass of female directors on the board. When there is an ineffective critical mass of female directors, for example when female directors reach a critical mass level in numbers but do not work as a collective action, they may act as tokens. Once the critical mass has been reached, a further increase in the number of women may have a negative effect (Cambrea et al., 2023; Lefley and Janecek, 2024; Heubeck, 2024). Female directors appointed due to quotas may not have been chosen for their ability and skills but to increase gender numbers, which opens a question of who these women are (Birindelli et al., 2020). In some cases, for smaller businesses, family members are appointed who do not always have relevant qualifications as non-family employees and some women sometimes isolate themselves so as not to be seen as a stereotype (Houcine and Derouiche, 2024). These two studies show how diversity works (or does not work) in practice and what organisations should do to improve diversity and inclusivity in workplaces.Continuing with workplace culture, Stephanie Bilderback, Patrick Luck, Isabella L. Blackwell and Michael D. Lobdell explored the influence of Snapchat on workplace behaviour, focusing on employee productivity, mental health and organisational policies with a particular emphasis on Millennials and Generation Z. The paper deployed uses and gratifications theory, social comparison theory and attention economy theory, and the analysis covered the psychological effects of social media validation, social comparisons and the impact of Snapchat on attention and task management. Management strategies such as policy development and employee training were also examined. Findings showed that “Snapchat positively impacts communication and team bonding but presents challenges to productivity, mental well-being and data security. The platform’s design encourages both community building and distractions. Organisations can mitigate these issues through effective policies, training and mental health support” such as introducing mindfulness, offering information and training on the psychological impact of social media, digital well-being, and time management techniques, whilst at the same time keeping in mind the misuse that affects organisational productivity due to excessive distractions (Widdicks et al., 2022). Snapchat can, however, support organisations by enabling, for example, creative brainstorming in real time, behind-the-scenes content creation, team building and maintaining informal communication for remote teams (Madhura and Panakaje, 2022; Kaufman et al., 2023). Marlene S. Neill and a group of associates (all from Baylor University, USA) conducted the Universal Accreditation Board (UAB) practice analysis to examine perceptions of USA public relations practitioners and educators regarding the essential competencies for entry-level and mid-career professionals. Two surveys were distributed to individuals affiliated with UAB to distinguish educators from practitioners. The findings showed that “practitioners’ expectations for others exceeded their own actual performance levels. This may be attributed to social comparison bias”. There was an agreement between practitioners and educators regarding essential competencies, except for – surprisingly – business literacy and concepts and current issues, which educators rated highly but practitioners did not. Thus, the authors ask whether perhaps these competencies are desired for practitioners (as per some reports, such as the Commission on Public Relations Education Report (2023)) but not expected at the entry level. These two studies show the importance of diversity and inclusion because inclusive organisations are more likely to appoint mentors and enable the empowerment of all employees, which then results in diverse and more successful workplaces. Equally, inclusive organisations are more likely to express concerns for employee well-being and mental health. Equal societies are “are better to live in … and better for everyone” (Djerf-Pierre, 2011, p. 43), and inclusivity is a central feature of equal societies because “everyone feels welcome, valued, and respected, no matter who they are or where they come from” (Ricee, 2022, n.p.). Not surprisingly, practitioners of diverse origins often feel unheard and unsupported due to a lack of inclusivity (Meng and Neill, 2021a), and this happens despite all available research showing that diverse and inclusive workplaces have happier employees, enhanced problem-solving and decision-making, enhanced employee engagement, increased productivity and increased organisational reputation (Miller, 2023).Finally, three papers offer new and innovative studies centred on increasing understanding of a new corporate practice, such as AI, as well as offering suggestions on further research and new and novel methodologies. Karolin Kelm and Michael Johann explored the determinants of AI acceptance and AI-driven transformations of corporate communications, focusing on the dual influence of individual and organisational factors of AI acceptance from a technology adoption perspective. Using qualitative interviews with 19 AI experts from Germany, the authors argue that there are micro-level determinants of AI acceptance related to AI’s perceived usefulness and ease of use. There is also an AI divide and AI anxiety, which indicates hesitancy to embrace AI in some communication departments, which is in line with other studies that argue there is AI hesitancy and that adoption and acceptance of AI vary across the industry (Johnson and Verdicchio, 2017; Zerfass et al., 2020). However, this study clarifies that anxiety and hesitancy come also from the rapid evolution of AI technology, which is seen as both invigorating and overwhelming. The authors argue that for AI to be more widely adopted, as per participants’ views, organisations need to use a “bridging element such as demonstrative leadership, systematic guidance, comprehensive training and the meaningful management of experiences with these technologies”. Grace Omondi conducted a 10-year systematic literature review of major journals published by the International Communication Association, National Communication Association and World Communication Association on the visual framing of crises to identify the priorities, theories applied and trends in the scholarship of visual framing during crises. The findings have shown that “the proportion of visual framing of crises has remained the same in the last 10 years – there is significantly more research on the visual framing of non-crises. Overall, research on the visual framing of crises is largely exploratory/descriptive and could benefit from a research agenda that is more theory driven. Additionally, there is a skewed focus for research on North America compared to other regions and political communication and climate compared to other themes. Environmental sciences and engineering are the most widely investigated journal fields, whilst disaster is the most common typology studied when looking at the visual framing of crises”. Audra Diers-Lawson and Stuart J. Lawson explored both the validation of the unified model of activism and the methodological reliability of the Llama–Parsing approach to natural language processing (NLP). The paper applies the unified model of activism within the context of the Scottish independence movement, evaluating its effectiveness in the social media environment. The paper addresses the reliability and validity challenges associated with AI analyses, particularly the issue of AI hallucinations – instances where AI generates seemingly accurate but incorrect information. By employing the LlamaParsing approach and then comparing and contrasting it with a quantitative content coding process, the study demonstrates how context-specific instructions can enhance the accuracy of AI analyses. The findings indicated that this approach not only tests and extends the unified model of activism but also offers a robust methodological framework for using NLP and RAG in qualitative research. This dual focus underscores the potential of AI to provide systematic and theoretically valuable insights whilst highlighting the importance of mitigating its limitations. All of these studies can serve as valuable starting points for future studies. Omondi’s study can inform future, theory-driven research, whilst Diers-Lawson and Lawson’s study offered a new approach to qualitative data analysis, theory development and theory testing in communication using a new model developed in 2024; Kelm and Johan’s study increases understanding of a major corporate change such as AI.In conclusion, this issue brings about a further focus on workplace culture, with a large emphasis on diversity and innovation. Workplace culture is important because most people spend a large proportion of their day working, and thus, how organisations treat employees and how employees feel about organisations and their communication and engagement has implications not just for businesses but also for the mental health and well-being of employees. Therefore, workplace culture’s importance goes beyond economic and business debates; studying workplace culture and advocating for positive change has an impact on humanity in general. In the Corporate Communications: An International Journal (CCIJ), we will continue to publish works studying workplace culture, and we will continue to support innovative and new studies, such as the last three in this issue, that open new avenues for research and introduce new methodologies. In addition to that, we will continue to support works that study and advocate for diversity and inclusion in workplaces and continue to advocate for corporate communications and public relations to take a leading role in supporting and fostering diversity and inclusivity. Coombs and Holladay (2006) argued that PR is not “just PR” but that PR has a positive role in society and can take credit for introducing a marketplace of ideas where everyone has a voice. PR now also has a unique opportunity to give a voice to those who face oppression and attacks and to foster and support diversity and inclusion efforts more than ever.