Content area

Abstract

Global competition in the late 1990s ushered in an international demand for employee talent that far surpassed the supply, creating a talent shortage that is still felt today. Despite this sustained need for talent, professional services organizations worldwide struggle to reduce turnover. Recent literature suggests that while a variety of reasons cause turnover within U.S.-based professional services organizations, turnover is often the result of employees' prolonged exposure to organizational stressors stemming from the lack of congruence between organizational DE&I policies and their application. This is especially salient when considering queer professionals, as they are a particularly vulnerable minority due to institutionalized stigmatization, marginalization, normalized social exclusion, and violence. Leveraging Argyris and Schön's 1978 organizational learning theory, this qualitative systematic review provides organizational and human resources leaders with evidence-based research that reveals effective strategies for the mitigation of queer professional turnover within U.S.-based professional services organizations. The management problem, the continued need for organizations to retain queer talent paired with the sustained incongruence of DE&I initiatives and implementation, led to the research question that guides this study, namely, what strategies can be implemented within DE&I frameworks to decrease queer employee turnover in U.S. professional services organizations? The findings suggest that professional services organizations can effectively reduce the turnover of queer professionals by implementing organizational learning-based DE&I frameworks that reduce or eliminate queer employees’ perceived work-related equity gaps. The reviewed literature identified three significant prevailing themes when considering queer professional turnover within U.S.-based PSOs. These themes are inclusivity through learning and change, congruence of policy and practice, and institutionalized marginalization. While the current review contributes to the burgeoning body of theoretical and practical literature on both organizational learning and the DE&I literature specific to queer professionals, additional research and academic discussions related to the current review question may exponentially improve the work conditions of queer individuals, aiding in the current movement that U.S.- based PSOs are experiencing regarding institutional change.

Details

1010268
Business indexing term
Title
DE&I Frameworks and the Queer Professional: Exploring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategies and Their Impact on LGBTQIA+ Employee Turnover Within Professional Services Organizations
Number of pages
269
Publication year
2024
Degree date
2024
School code
1487
Source
DAI-A 86/1(E), Dissertation Abstracts International
ISBN
9798383192030
Advisor
Committee member
Sava, Monica; Alshameri, Faleh
University/institution
University of Maryland University College
Department
School of Business
University location
United States -- Maryland
Degree
D.B.A.
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language
English
Document type
Dissertation/Thesis
Dissertation/thesis number
31329732
ProQuest document ID
3074275448
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/de-amp-i-frameworks-queer-professional-exploring/docview/3074275448/se-2?accountid=208611
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.
Database
ProQuest One Academic