Rationales of gender diversity management policies and practices in India: an exploratory empirical study in the Indian IT/ITeS industry
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
ISSN: 2040-7149
Article publication date: 9 April 2020
Issue publication date: 21 July 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The Indian context is marked with weak anti-discrimination laws and patchy implementation of protection of civil rights of women at workplaces. The purpose of this paper is to unearth the rationales of the adoption of gender diversity management policies and practices in India, in the absence of laws and regulations.
Design/methodology/approach
Inspiration is drawn from previous studies on diversity management in other national contexts, and a survey methodology was adopted. The lead researcher administered the questionnaires personally to all respondents to ensure that the understanding of the questions is uniform across respondents as gender diversity management is a relatively new concept in India.
Findings
Size of the organisation (number of full-time employees), the influence of external organisations and perceived enhanced organisational flexibility were found to explain the adoption of gender diversity management policies and practices in the Indian IT/ITeS industry. Findings also indicate that Indian subsidiaries of foreign multinationals tend to adopt more gender diversity management policies and practices as compared to Indian-owned organisations.
Research implications
This study provides evidence that organisations do not always enact structures or behaviours in the pursuit of normative rationality and also consider the economic value of them, establishing an organisational agency in adopting legitimated norms or practices. The study also shows that gender diversity management policies and practices are not only dependent on the enactment of laws but also are adopted because of the economic benefit perceived.
Originality/value
Diversity management policies and practices have been mostly studied in national contexts with anti-discrimination laws or affirmative action programs and have been claimed to be a successor of equal employment opportunity (EEO) policies. In the absence of stringent laws to reduce or eliminate discrimination against women employees in Indian workplaces, this study contributes to the literature by determining whether the business case for gender diversity drives the adoption of gender diversity management in the Indian context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Prof. Amit Dhiman, Prof. Rajeev Kumar and Prof. Debasish Bhattacharjee from IIM Calcutta as they were part of my Thesis Advisory Committee.
Citation
Chakraborty, S. and Chatterjee, L. (2020), "Rationales of gender diversity management policies and practices in India: an exploratory empirical study in the Indian IT/ITeS industry", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 39 No. 6, pp. 667-688. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2019-0124
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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