Organizational diversity and inclusion communications and White employees’ allyship communication: Pathways to motivational cultural intelligence and engagement
{"title":"Organizational diversity and inclusion communications and White employees’ allyship communication: Pathways to motivational cultural intelligence and engagement","authors":"Feifei Chen , Duli Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102604","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As organizational diversity and inclusion efforts face increasingly polarized reactions, understanding how majority-group employees respond to organizational diversity and inclusion communications becomes crucial for building effective workplaces. This study develops a framework that examines these employees’ allyship communication through two types: relational allyship communication directly supporting colleagues and structural allyship communication advocating organizational change. Applying primarily signaling theory, we conducted a survey of 551 U.S. White employees to investigate how organizational diversity and inclusion communications influenced these allyship communication types and the subsequent effects on motivational cultural intelligence (CQ) and engagement. Results showed diversity and inclusion communications both positively associated with both allyship communication types. Diversity communication positively influenced motivational CQ both directly and indirectly via relational allyship communication, while inclusion communication only indirectly affected motivational CQ through relational allyship communication. Furthermore, diversity communication showed a negative direct but positive indirect relationship with employee engagement through combined allyship communication, while inclusion communication demonstrated positive direct and indirect relationships through the same mechanism. Findings provide a nuanced understanding of how organizations can engage majority-group employees in diversity and inclusion initiatives through strategic communication.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 4","pages":"Article 102604"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Public Relations Review","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0363811125000669","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
As organizational diversity and inclusion efforts face increasingly polarized reactions, understanding how majority-group employees respond to organizational diversity and inclusion communications becomes crucial for building effective workplaces. This study develops a framework that examines these employees’ allyship communication through two types: relational allyship communication directly supporting colleagues and structural allyship communication advocating organizational change. Applying primarily signaling theory, we conducted a survey of 551 U.S. White employees to investigate how organizational diversity and inclusion communications influenced these allyship communication types and the subsequent effects on motivational cultural intelligence (CQ) and engagement. Results showed diversity and inclusion communications both positively associated with both allyship communication types. Diversity communication positively influenced motivational CQ both directly and indirectly via relational allyship communication, while inclusion communication only indirectly affected motivational CQ through relational allyship communication. Furthermore, diversity communication showed a negative direct but positive indirect relationship with employee engagement through combined allyship communication, while inclusion communication demonstrated positive direct and indirect relationships through the same mechanism. Findings provide a nuanced understanding of how organizations can engage majority-group employees in diversity and inclusion initiatives through strategic communication.
期刊介绍:
The Public Relations Review is the oldest journal devoted to articles that examine public relations in depth, and commentaries by specialists in the field. Most of the articles are based on empirical research undertaken by professionals and academics in the field. In addition to research articles and commentaries, The Review publishes invited research in brief, and book reviews in the fields of public relations, mass communications, organizational communications, public opinion formations, social science research and evaluation, marketing, management and public policy formation.