{"id":3961,"date":"2025-04-23T17:31:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T17:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3961"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:37:27","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:37:27","slug":"gender-diversity-in-senior-leadership-boosts-corporate-citizenship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/gender-diversity-in-senior-leadership-boosts-corporate-citizenship\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender Diversity in Senior Leadership Boosts Corporate Citizenship"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Organizations don\u2019t always appreciate the value that gender diversity in leadership roles can bring. Academy of Management Scholar Carol Kulik<\/a> of the University of South Australia said that organizations have been reluctant to increase gender diversity in their senior leadership.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve put a lot of regulatory pressure on organizations to increase gender representation in senior levels.\u201d Kulik said. \u201cSome organizations respond to that pressure by doing the minimum; they\u2019ll make a couple of appointments and then they are \u2018one and done\u2019 or \u2018two and through.\u2019<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHowever, having women in the leadership team can deliver major benefits to organizations,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know that organizations that have more gender diversity in senior leadership are better corporate citizens.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThey\u2019re less likely to engage in unethical behavior; they engage in more philanthropy and corporate social responsibility; they have smaller gender pay gaps; they offer more employee participation; they actually become better organizations.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The effects of diversity in senior leadership aren\u2019t as straightforward as many assume.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not because the women are so good on their own; it\u2019s because anytime you have a decision-making group that has visible demographic diversity, they\u2019re sitting around the boardroom and see there\u2019s some men and there\u2019s some women, the group acts differently,\u201d Kulik said.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThe group automatically assumes that there are some hidden differences that they need to explore; they ask more questions, and they consider more solutions; they look at more data,\u201d she said. \u201cSo they make more thoughtful and better decisions\u2014it\u2019s a really powerful effect.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Kulik said that if leaders make organizations more inclusive and better for women and people with cultural and racial variations, then they\u2019re actually creating better organizations.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe see the same sorts of beneficial effects of diversity in any kind of decision-making group,\u201d Kulik said. \u201cAnd because of trickle-down effects, increasing diversity at a senior level increases diversity at lower levels too.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSo choose any level to start with and increase diversity at that level,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019ll soon see more diversity at other levels and you\u2019ll create a more inclusive organization.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n

A sample of Kulik\u2019s AOM research findings:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n