Organizational Diversity and External Recognition

In the last few years companies in the United States have taken steps to incorporate diversity initiatives into their organizational activities in an attempt to mirror societal values. Through social media outlets such as Twitter, companies have often communicated these sentiments with the public. However, despite promises to champion diversity there exists a skepticism surrounding whether or not these diversity initiatives manifest into anything meaningful. In this research project it is hypothesized that the level of authenticity in social media posts made by companies found on the S&P 100 index promoting diversity and inclusion mediates the relationship between board gender diversity, level of managerial diversity, level of employee diversity within a given organization and diversity external recognition. Evidence was found to support this hypothesis given that every level of organizational diversity regarding gender were positively related to diversity external recognition. While organizational ethnic diversity and diversity external recognition were found to be mediated by authenticity. Thus, an organization committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace will be viewed positively overall in the eye of the public if the promotion of diversity through Twitter is authentic and truly reflective of the organization.