Diversity Messages That Invite Allies To Dei Efforts

Many White people resist organizational DEI efforts, undermining their adoption and efficacy. We identify that this is partly because White people are concerned that they do not belong or cannot contribute to DEI efforts (Study 1). We propose that addressing these concerns by explicitly inviting ally participation can improve White people’s attitudes towards DEI efforts. Seven experiments (n > 8,000) support this. Ally invitation messaging (which explicitly welcomes both minorities and ally participation) reduced White people’s resistance to DEI compared to traditional diversity messages (Studies 2a, 2b, 3, 4, Supplemental Study 1) and no diversity messages (Study 4). Ally invitation messaging also increased anticipated involvement in DEI efforts (Studies 5 and 6). Crucially, minorities responded as positively to the ally invitation message as traditional diversity messages (Studies 3 and 6). This suggests that inviting ally participation reduces White people’s resistance to DEI without alienating minorities, ultimately promoting more inclusive workplaces.