Numerous studies suggest that the billions of dollars spent on diversity training by American corporations, academia, and government agencies have little impact on people's behavior.
Meta-analyses (a type of review that combines the results of hundreds of studies) have found that the effects of diversity training are often short-lived or affect beliefs without affecting behavior. American companies alone spend about $8 billion a year on diversity training that research shows is ineffective. According to To Harvard Business Review.
In addition to the billions of dollars that companies spend on diversity training, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of public funding is flowing into diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. State University And the federal government. (Related: Fat jokes could get you in trouble at Northwestern University)
A 2020 meta-analysis combined the results of 492 different studies and found: Found Training designed to reduce implicit bias — a term scholars use to refer to discriminatory attitudes that people hold but are not consciously aware of — “generally produced small changes in behavior.” The study found that the training had only a “relatively weak” effect on measures of implicit bias, but that changes in implicit bias did not necessarily translate into changes in behavior.
Many nonprofit organizations, e.g. National Equity Projectprovides diversity training services to corporations and other public and private clients.
“Broadly speaking, left-leaning nonprofit spending dwarfs center-right spending by three to four times, depending on the year, but the state hasn't really moved the needle,” Ken Brown, senior research fellow at the Capital Research Center, told the Daily Caller News Foundation about spending on diversity training. “The very fact that DEI was created is a testament to the complete failure of decades of spending and messaging on what we once called 'affirmative action.'”
Diversity training may influence participants' stated beliefs, but it rarely changes their day-to-day behavior. A 2019 study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania surveyed 3,000 employees of multinational companies. Found Anti-gender discrimination training helped employees acknowledge that women face discrimination, but it did not change their behavior.
Despite diversity training's apparent ineffectiveness, bureaucrats continue to spend public money on it. School district and public University The university paid tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees to Ibram X. Kendi, a scholar famous for spreading the idea of ”anti-racism.” In 2016, roughly two-thirds of American universities offered diversity training for faculty, 43% of which required it. According to According to a study conducted by researchers Frank Dobbin of Harvard University and Alexandra Karev of Tel Aviv University.
President Joe Biden Signed A June 2021 executive order ordered federal agencies to strengthen their diversity programs, stating that “such training programs should equip federal employees, managers, and leaders with knowledge of systemic and institutional racism and bias.”
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Doubts about the effectiveness of diversity training have existed for some time. A 2009 analysis of hundreds of studies published in the Annual Review of Psychology found that: Failure Finding evidence that diversity training is effective in reducing prejudice or influencing behavior in the intended way.
Academics have struggled to find evidence supporting the effectiveness of diversity training, but many companies have leaned toward such efforts after consulting firm McKinsey & Company published a report in 2015 arguing that companies with more diverse executives are more profitable. According to According to the Wall Street Journal, several researchers have been unable to replicate the consulting firm's findings.
Replicating the work of others is a common tactic in academic circles to determine whether results reflect reality or are the result of poor methodology or bad luck. Econ Journal Watch (EJW) run A study by economics professors tried to replicate McKinsey's findings but found no statistically significant link between executive diversity and profitability.
“We urge caution in relying on McKinsey's findings to suggest that publicly traded U.S. companies can improve their financial performance by increasing the racial/ethnic diversity of their executives,” the EJW report said. “We are unable to replicate the statistically reliable association between corporate financial performance and racial/ethnic diversity of their executives that McKinsey reports.”
Many companies have begun to back away from diversity efforts, with American Airlines, BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase and Lowe's revising their DEI policies to be less racially focused following threats of lawsuits from conservatives.
Brown called it “encouraging” to see corporate America moving away from DEI initiatives, but laughed when asked if academia and the federal government might follow suit.
Other studies have found that diversity training not only fails to change people's behavior, but sometimes creates a backlash effect that reinforces people's prejudices. Found After implementing diversity training, companies saw fewer women and minorities in leadership positions.
“If diversity training were completely ineffective, the United States would probably be wasting billions of dollars a year on such efforts,” says journalist Jesse Singal. Written That's expected to happen by 2023. “But it could be worse: Some diversity initiatives may worsen the DEI climate at the organizations they fund.”
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