2024/05/01 by Brittany Torrez, LaStarr Hollie, Jennifer A. Richeson +1 · 1 voice · 12 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Diversity (politics) #Equity (law) #Gender Diversity and Inequality #Inclusion (mineral) #Political science #Psychology #Public relations #Social psychology #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1037/amp0001309
published in American Psychologist 79(4), 581-592 (American Psychological Association)
openalex publication_date 2024/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Despite a checkered racial history, people in the United States generally believe the nation has made steady, incremental progress toward achieving racial equality. In this article, we investigate whether this U.S. racial progress narrative will extend to how the workforce views the effectiveness of organizational efforts surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion. Across three studies (N = 1,776), we test whether Black and White U.S. workers overestimate organizational racial progress in executive representation. We also examine whether these misperceptions, surrounding organizational progress, drive misunderstandings regarding the relative ineffectiveness of common organizational diversity policies. Overall, we find evidence that U.S. workers largely overestimate organizational racial progress, believe that organizational progress will naturally improve over time, and that these misperceptions of organizational racial progress may drive beliefs in the effectiveness of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).