Identifying Structural Impediments to Equity for Women’s Leadership: Development and Validation of an Organizational Equity Diagnostic

<p>Promoting more equitable organizations requires identifying structural impediments. Integrating theory and research on organizational structure and organizational justice, this paper describes the development and validation of an Organizational Equity Diagnostic. Using the Diagnostic, organizations can self-assess their performance along six dimensions of equity (i.e., awareness, transparency, objectivity, representation and inclusion, equal treatment and impact, and access) and across seven structural systems (i.e., positions, tasks, and status; selection, promotion, and turnover; authority and decision making; rules and procedures; development and training; performance monitoring and evaluation; and reward systems). The Diagnostic was developed and validated using a mixed methods approach involving inductive qualitative processes to parse out dimensions of equity along with quantitative analyses for scale development and evaluation. Study One (n=18) involved subject matter expert input. Study Two (n=264) involved members of the target population and included confirmatory factor analysis and testing of convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. The outcome is an Organizational Equity Diagnostic, an assessment tool implementable by consulting psychologists to empower the organizations they help and inform the most appropriate intervention(s). The Diagnostic is meant to broadly benefit diverse organizational members, including women who are or aspire to become leaders, by fostering more equitable organizations.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Psychology, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Trainor, Leslie L.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Michelle C. Bligh
• Stephen W. Gilliland
• Susan E. Murphy

• Equity
• Organizational justice
• Organizational structure
• Women in leadership

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/1027

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-2049