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Abstract

Organizations frequently incorporate explicit diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) statements and photographs of current employees into their online presence, in part to signal to potential job applicants their ability to ‘fit in’ to the organization, its culture, and its extant members. This two-factor (match between organizational DEI statement and racioethnic diversity of members depicted) experiment (N = 105) tested the effect of diversity mixed messages on applicant perceptions of person-organization fit, accounting for the moderating effects of individuals’ demographics (i.e., race/gender and political lean). Results revealed the consistency of DEI statements and the depictions of current organizational members did not affect applicants’ perceptions they would fit into the organization or their intention to apply to the organizaiton. Moreover, person-organization fit did not have a mediating effect, nor did the individual’s status as a majority member nor their political lean moderate that mediating process. Taken together, findings suggest organizations’ recruiting efforts may not necessarily be harmed by inconsistent diversity management messaging online.

Journal Title

Iowa Journal of Communication

Volume

58

Issue

1

First Page

37

Last Page

59

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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