Call for papers for AOM symposium on alternative ways of doing gender diversity

My colleagues Dimitria Groutsis, Eddy Ng and I (Andri Georgiadou) are currently preparing a proposal for a Presenter Symposium entitled “How perceptions on gender equality could point to alternative ways of doing gender diversity” (refer to abstract below) to be submitted for presentation at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting to be held on August 7-11^th, 2020 in Vancouver, Canada .

With that in mind, we would like to invite you to submit a paper to this symposium. If you are interested in presenting a paper that fits within the symposium’s theme, please let us know by sending a detailed abstract to equidy@andrigeorgiadou.com before December 23^rd.  

Other deadlines to keep in mind:

• December 23^rd: Detailed Abstract (Two- to five-page synopsis of your paper as per AOM style)
• January 4^th: Revised Detailed Abstract incorporating reviewer feedback
• January 13^th: Symposium submission by organizers
• End of March: Notification of Acceptance of the Symposium by AOM
• July 10^th: Paper to be emailed to equidy@andrigeorgiadou.com to allow time for the Symposium Discussant to read before the conference.

Abstract:

The gender diversity management literature reveals that the key to ensuring that the organization utilizes its workforce diversity potential lies in the role of the moderators. One such moderator and mediator is how gender diversity is perceived by the members of the team as described by Shemla and Wegge (2019). Scholars have been interested in examining the degree to which members interpret their team to be composed of individuals who are different from each other on a specific attribute. For example, Cunningham, Choi, and Sagas (2008) findings suggest that it is individuals’ perceptions that shape their subsequent beliefs and attitudes, highlighting that perceived racial dissimilarity within a group has an impact on the satisfaction with that group. Williams, Parker and Turner (2007) suggest that the more different individuals perceive themselves to be from their fellow team members as regards their work-style, the less their perspective taking (i.e., decreased empathy and positive attributions). Furthermore, they found that alleged work-style variation interrelated with a contextually prominent surface-level attribute (perceived age dissimilarity) in a way that when alleged work-style variation was low, perceived age dissimilarity had a robust negative effect on the within-team perspective taking.

Despite that however, data on individuals’ perceptions of or reactions towards gender diversity management in general or to specific initiatives, such as enhancing employee awareness or influencing human resources approaches, are still scarce (Roberson & Stevens, 2006). Zanoni et al. (2010) seeks to draw attention to the need for investigations of how diversity is perceived and experienced by a diverse workforce itself, rather than taking just the perspective of policy makers and/or top managers.

In this presenter symposium, we call for papers drawing on whether the acceptance and acknowledgement of these experiences and perceptions may point to alternative ways of doing gender diversity. Even in organizations that make the empowerment of people of different genders central to their mission, actors experience significant and persistent dilemmas in the practice of diversity and equality. We call for research that will provide us with greater insight into the ways in which practitioners conceptualize and resolve these dilemmas.

We look forward to receiving your contribution to our Symposium.