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Although existing literature emphasizes the significance of diversity and inclusion in management roles for employees, there is a notable absence of a standardized scale to assess employees’ perceptions of an inclusive climate, particularly in relation to practices that encourage acceptance of demographically diverse leaders. This study aims to bridge this gap by developing the perceived inclusion climate for leader diversity (PICLD) scale.

The scale development process was carried out in five phases which included: qualitative component (interviews); test for face validity; check for content validity; construct and criterion-related validity; and nomological network testing.

Following the first three phases of scale development, 12 measurement items were produced. Phase four results indicate that PICLD is distinct from both the intercultural group climate scale and diversity-oriented leadership scale, in which all three scales were found to be positively correlated with job satisfaction. Phase five results show that PICLD positively correlates with organizational justice. Organizational justice also mediates the relationship between PICLD and three employee outcomes (performance, engagement and turnover intention).

Organizations are encouraged to be open to suggestions made by managers from historically marginalized groups that motivate diverse leaders to voice their concerns to foster inclusionary climate perceptions among employees. Welcoming diverse managerial perspectives can dismantle systemic barriers, enabling marginalized leaders to thrive while fostering employees’ perceptions of an inclusionary workplace.

This study introduces the PICLD Scale to enhance comprehension of how policies supporting leader demographic diversity impact employee perceptions of inclusive climate. This research also contributes to the advancement of social exchange theory and literature on organizational justice, performance and engagement.

This study aims to reveal consumer purchase intentions for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) lifetime deals and the role of service offerings in shaping these intentions.

Lifetime deals − an aggressive market penetration strategy − have the potential to allow startups to gain market share, user base and the cash necessary for growth. However, startups need to mitigate consumer concerns for which service offering design plays a key role. Drawing on expectancy-value and signaling theories, this study developed a research model and then conducted empirical research on 2,173 consumers via choice-based conjoint analysis to reveal the critical service offering attributes for consumer utility in lifetime deals in the SaaS presentation tool market context. After using the hierarchical Bayes model to derive each respondent’s part-worth utilities for service offering attributes, the hypotheses were tested via the factor score regression method.

The results show that the service offering attributes of low price, refund option, human support and feature updates enhance consumer utility in SaaS lifetime deals. Three of these four attributes, namely, low price, refund option and feature updates, enhance consumers' purchase intentions by reducing their concerns about the service’s performance, seller and lifespan, respectively.

This study elucidates consumer purchase intentions for SaaS services in digital marketplaces. By investigating a widespread market entry strategy − lifetime deals − it shows consumer preferences and behavior for these deals in the fast-growing online tools market. This study also shows how startups can use lifetime deals through a well-designed service offering to mitigate various consumer concerns.