How Behavioral Nudges Can Improve Diversity in Organizations

“I hope this is a call to action for people to think about how to implement interventions to increase representation.” – Jose Cervantez

The Problem

Businesses and organizations are facing a backlash over diversity, equity, and inclusion. In response, many companies have been dismantling their DEI programs, concerned about a spillover effect from the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling that ended affirmative action in higher education. Since the ruling, more than 30 states have introduced anti-DEI legislation targeting colleges, government, and industries.

But there is still a way to encourage DEI that doesn’t run afoul of the law, generate ire, or cost a company extra money, according to research by Wharton operations, information and decisions professor Katy Milkman and doctoral candidate Jose A. Cervantez. DEI can be encouraged with nudges – interventions designed to change behavior without restricting choice or altering incentives.

In their published paper, “Can Nudges Be Leveraged to Enhance Diversity in Organizations? A Systematic Review,” the scholars offer 21 actions or “nudges” that managers, organizations, and underrepresented job candidates can take to bring about positive changes. All of the nudges have been culled from their wide-ranging review of previous research on the topic.

“These nudges are a way to give you a sense of agency,” Cervantez said. “We outlined a lot of ways to improve representation without putting forth aggressive quotas or the kind of rigid policies I think people are pushing back on.”

Cervantez said the study was inspired by “What Works: Gender Equality by Design,” a 2016 book from Swiss behavioral economist Iris Bohnet that shared evidence-based interventions to reduce bias in organizations.

“This is the spiritual successor of that book,” Cervantez said. “She started looking at nudging gender equality in organizations 10 years ago, and we thought we’d summarize what’s been learned 10 years later.”

Cervantez and Milkman said the behavioral science literature suggests most people do not want to discriminate or promote biases and stereotypes. Because of people’s good intentions, nudges can help gently redirect without making people feel corrected, coerced, or constrained.

“I hope this is a call to action for people to think about how to implement interventions to increase representation,” Cervantez said.

The Solution

Taken from the paper, the nudges listed below have been found to increase diversity in organizations.

21 Nudges for decision-makers and organizational processes

▶ Increase attention through signposting:

1. Send reminders. Reminding employees to consider diversity right before they hire can increase the diversity of hires, and media attention to bias subsequently reduces bias.
2. Create identity salience. Making women and underrepresented minorities’ (URMs) identities more salient in their asks for career help increases their success.
3. Prevent moral licensing. Reminding decision-makers of past failures to support diversity can prevent them from feeling licensed to ignore diversity in future decisions.
4. Offer descriptive feedback. Giving decision-makers descriptive feedback about the fraction of women or URMs they recently selected increases the diversity of their future selectees.

▶ Increase attention through choice architecture:

1. Choose in sets. Selecting candidates in sets rather than individually increases the gender diversity of selections.
2. Encourage replacement thinking. Emphasizing who is being replaced when women and URMs depart can enhance diversity.
3. Focus on groups. Larger homogenous groups more strongly signal a lack of diversity, so highlighting such groups can promote more diverse hiring decisions.

▶ Mitigate the impact of harmful stereotypes:

1. Joint evaluation. Joint evaluation of candidates reduces gender bias.
2. Extend shortlists. This promotes thinking about nonprotypical candidates, which increases the diversity of those shortlisted.
3. Choose for now. Choices made for now are less discriminatory than choices made for later.
4. Introduce decoys. Decoys in choice sets can reduce bias by leveraging contrast effects.
5. Focus on policy. Focusing on hiring policies leads to more support for diverse hires than focusing on specific candidates.

▶ Emphasize that diversity is valued:

1. Communicate social norms. When hiring, people seek to conform to descriptive social norms set by peer organizations’ gender diversity.
2. Set diversity goals. Companies with explicit diversity goals compensate women more competitively.
3. Create soft quotas. Soft quotas requiring that at least one woman be included in the finalist set for jobs increases the gender diversity of hires.

Nudges for decision-makers and organizational processes

▶ Reduce application frictions and signal inclusiveness:

1. Set wise defaults. Defaulting candidates into applying for competitive opportunities increases the diversity of those who compete and succeed.
2. Decorate inclusively. Inclusive décor increases women’s participation in a male-typed field.
3. Invite counter-stereotypical behavior. Framing a payment offer as negotiable reduces the gender gap in negotiating.
4. Communicate trending norms. Highlighting the uptick in women’s participation in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math fields) increases women’s interest in STEM.
5. Write inclusive job descriptions. Job descriptions that appeal to women, such as focusing on qualification transparency or benefits, can increase women’s applications for roles in male-dominated fields.

▶ Encourage women and URMs to defy harmful stereotypes:

1. Promote stereotype defiance. Prompting women to defy harmful gender stereotypes increases their willingness to negotiate and to apply for competitive jobs.