Impact of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on Employee Engagement: Mediating Role of Psychological Safety
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66635/b8hbwa27Keywords:
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Psychological Safety, Employee Engagement, Indian IT Sector, PLS-SEMAbstract
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) has become increasingly important for Human Resource Management across many industries. Especially in the high-tech or knowledge-based industries, employee engagement heavily relies on employee perceptions of fairness and inclusion at work. Although DEI is widely studied within organizations, there is little research on the distinct ways in which the three dimensions of DEI independently affect an employee's level of engagement. Therefore, this study will examine the separate effects of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on Employee Engagement and assess whether the relationship is mediated through Psychological Safety. Survey data were collected from 360 employees who worked in India's Information Technology industry. The survey included software developers, web developers, mobile app developers, database administrators and cybersecurity professionals. A five-point Likert-type scale was used to measure each variable. Structural Equation Modelling using PLS was applied to test the predicted relationships among the variables. The results indicated that both Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion had positive impacts on Employee Engagement, with varying effect sizes. Of the three, equity had the greatest impact on employee engagement, followed by inclusion and then diversity.
Additionally, it was found that Psychological Safety partially mediated all three relationships, suggesting that employee engagement is enhanced both directly through DEI and indirectly through the creation of a workplace climate in which employees perceive themselves as able to share ideas, contribute to decision-making processes, and obtain help when needed. Thus, this study adds to the existing literature on DEI and employee engagement by demonstrating that representation of one's group does not automatically lead to increased employee engagement. Rather, fairness in employment decisions, inclusiveness in the organization and psychological safety are required to transform DEI into tangible engagement.
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