The Whiteboard: Decoupling of ethnic and gender diversity reporting and practice in corporate Australia

Abstract

Diversity of company leadership is an important governance issue for corporations globally, yet the uneven treatment of diversity priorities remains a major challenge. We explore the extent and change over time of both gender and ethnic diversity in leadership and disclosure for Australia’s largest firms from 2005 to 2021. Using institutional theory, we compare the isomorphisms driving change, and examine the extent to which there is rhetorical decoupling between diversity disclosure and practice. Our analysis reveals a significant improvement in gender diversity over time but very little progress in the ethnic diversity of corporate leaders. We find a connection between diversity reporting and the appointment of female corporate leaders. However, there is a disconnection between public commitment to diversity and the appointment of non-white corporate leaders. A lack of regulation for diversity reporting contributes to this imbalance with different outcomes for gender and ethnic diversity as the result of different institutional isomorphisms. Our findings can inform policymakers and corporations, highlighting the importance of a range of institutional pressures that encourage the disclosure and practice of ethnic diversity in corporate leadership. JEL Classification: M14

Anti-racism as an organising principle: Racial inequality in and around organisations

“…The quantitative study by Wright et al (2023) titled 'The whiteboard: Decoupling of ethnic and gender diversity reporting and practice in corporate Australia' provides a firm-level account of trends in Australian for-profit corporate leadership. The authors investigate the decoupling between what companies say they do (in terms of gender and ethnic representation), and what they actually do.…”

“…Elias et al (2023) activate anti-racism practices through learning by doing, demonstrating a central anti-racism organising principle of reflexivity in our practice as scholars and as professionals. Wright et al (2023) and Khatibi et al (2023) highlight the insufficiency of performative anti-racism and how these undemanding strategies avoid the critical exacting work that requires our attention. Trenerry et al (2023) exemplify an anti-racism organising principle of the value of embodied lived experience arguing why diversity strategies are just the map for organising, the activation as always belongs firmly in the hands of individuals and leaders.…”