Diversity in under-researched countries: new empirical fields challenging old theories?

• Published date: 16 September 2019
• Date: 16 September 2019
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-03-2019-0110
• Pages: 694-704
• Author: Alain Klarsfeld,Lena Knappert,Angela Kornau,Faith Wambura Ngunjiri,Barbara Sieben
• Subject Matter: Hr & organizational behaviour

Diversity in under-researched

countries: new empirical fields

challenging old theories?

Alain Klarsfeld

Toulouse Business School, Toulouse, France

Lena Knappert

Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

Angela Kornau

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences,

Helmut-Schmidt-Universitat/Universitat der Bundeswehr Hamburg,

Hamburg, Germany

Faith Wambura Ngunjiri

Offutt School of Business, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, USA, and

Barbara Sieben

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences,

Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to further restore diversity and equality to its national contexts by

presenting new and so far less visible perspectives from under-researched countries.

Design/methodology/approach –This special issue consists of five articles representing four countries

and one country-cluster: Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Korea and the English-speaking

Caribbean. Three of the contributions are focused on gender diversity, while the remaining two are more

general descriptions of diversity challenges and policies in the respective countries (namely, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, and the English-speaking Caribbean).

Findings –In addition to providing an overview of this issue’s articles, this paper highlights developments

and current themes in country-specific equality and diversity scholarship. In particular, drawing on the

special issue’s five papers, and building on the main threads that weave the special issue together, the

authors show both the relevance of (some) western theories while also pointing to the need for reformulation

of others.

Research limitations/implications –The authors conclude with a call to further explore under-

researched contexts and especially to develop locally relevant, culture-sensitive theoretical frameworks.

Originality/value –How do smallerand less developed countriesexperience equality and diversityconcepts?

How are theirapproaches different from thoseexperienced in already researchedcountries, or, on the contrary,

what commonalitiescan be found found among them? How do theoretical frameworksoriginated in the West

apply (or not) in these lessstudied countries? Are new, locally groundedframeworks needed to better capture

the developmentsat play? Such are questions addressed by thecontributions to this special issue.

Keywords Gender, Equal opportunities, Social policy, Diversity, Multicultural societies,

Sexual orientation

Paper type Viewpoint

Introduction

In many countries, managing diversity is on the political and business agenda, and has

become an area of knowledge and practice in its own right. Yet all too often, diversity

management (DM) and diversity research are historically rooted in “the West,”i.e. concepts

are dominated by the work of US-American and Western European scholars, mono-

culturally infused and biased (e.g. Jonsen et al., 2011; Nishii and Özbilgin, 2007). At the same

time, we know that diversity and equality can neither be treated as a unifying concept, nor

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 38 No. 7, 2019

pp. 694-704

© Emerald PublishingLimited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-03-2019-0110

Received 25 March 2019

Revised 25 March 2019

Accepted 26 March 2019

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/2040-7149.htm

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EDI

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