{"id":7595,"date":"2026-03-02T17:27:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=7595"},"modified":"2026-03-02T22:28:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:28:21","slug":"why-dei-credibility-now-matters-more-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/why-dei-credibility-now-matters-more-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Why DEI Credibility Now Matters More Than Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jason Collins<\/a><\/p>\n

The era of performative social justice, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), when some companies were implementing CSR and DEI policies because others were and it was seen as a public-relations and marketing talking point, is fading fast. As the political landscape becomes more charged and President Donald Trump has issued anti-DEI executive orders, companies\u2019 DEI policies are being stress-tested to reveal either authenticity or fair-weather support.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Christian Tr\u00f6ster<\/a> of Kuehne Logistics University (KLU) said that the politically charged environment and DEI blowback in the U.S., Germany, and elsewhere will reveal which companies embraced DEI due to pressure because competitors were doing it and a desire for positive PR or because their leaders believed that it was the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo in a sense, the politicization of DEI and the charged political environments provide a stress test for the company,\u201d Tr\u00f6ster said. \u201cIt reveals who\u2019s authentic and who was just mimicking.\u201d<\/p>\n

This distinction between insincere endorsement of a movement or set of DEI policies and core values matters according to Tr\u00f6ster, \u201cbecause it helps employees and consumers to make informed choices.\u201d It helps answer questions such as, \u201cWhich is the company that I want to work for? Which is the company whose products I want to buy from?\u201d<\/p>\n

As political winds shifted, so did DEI policies, and Tr\u00f6ster said that the companies that backed out and reneged on their commitments will find out that \u201cit\u2019s hard to rebuild your credibility once you lose it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next wave of DEI won’t be about checking boxes; rather, it will be about credibility,\u201d Tr\u00f6ster said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you implement DEI policies, are you still credible? Because you belong to the people who backed out of it when the political tide was changing, and now you\u2019re back on it, because the political tide has changed again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s just a company mimicking it and it isn\u2019t in line with their endorsed values, something will feel out of place, and now is the time when it gets easier to pinpoint unauthentic DEI.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jason Collins The era of performative social justice, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), when some companies were implementing CSR and DEI policies because others were and it was seen as a public-relations and marketing talking point, is fading fast. As the political landscape becomes more charged and President Donald […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":7560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,60,78,79],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[841],"class_list":["post-7595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate-social-responsibility","category-diversity","category-policy","category-teams"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy DEI Credibility Now Matters More Than Ever - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The era of performative social justice, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), when some companies were implementing CSR and DEI policies because others were and it was seen as a public-relations and marketing talking point, is fading fast. 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