New research shows that in the diversity and inclusion context, communicating the ‘business case’ for diversity can backfire[1]. This matters because 80% of Fortune 500 companies communicate in these terms. Instead, presenting the ‘fairness case’ for diversity as a moral necessity is more effective, and presenting diversity as a standalone value (with no explanation needed) is even more powerful.
“STOP MAKING THE BUSINESS CASE FOR DIVERSITY”
The implications for the responsible business and human rights field are heavy. We have spent decades trying to communicate why respect for human rights matters, and the business case has featured prominently. Our field needs to know what messages are most effective when communicating why we need corporate respect for human rights. Should we be emphasising that respect for human rights in non-negotiable, or the right thing to do, or the business benefits, or a combination of these? Each of us make these decisions implicitly all the time, but we do not know what is most effective in our context.
This important new research from Oriane Georgac and Aneeta Rattan in Harvard Business Review provides evidence to suggest that we may be making suboptimal framing decisions. The responsible business field needs to urgently begin generating its own evidence base on what works when communicating why companies should respect human rights. Reach out to me if you’re interested in exploring this further.
[1] https://hbr.org/2022/06/stop-making-the-business-case-for-diversity