An Agent-Based Simulation of How Promotion Biases Impact Corporate Gender Diversity
Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is a topic of increasing relevance across virtually all sectors of our society, with the potential for a significant impact on corporations and more broadly on our economy and society. While people are typically the most valuable asset of every organization, human r...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/4/2457 |
| _version_ | 1797622582370893824 |
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| author | Chibin Zhang Paolo Gaudiano |
| author_facet | Chibin Zhang Paolo Gaudiano |
| author_sort | Chibin Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is a topic of increasing relevance across virtually all sectors of our society, with the potential for a significant impact on corporations and more broadly on our economy and society. While people are typically the most valuable asset of every organization, human resources (HR) in general, and D&I in particular, are dominated by qualitative approaches. This paper introduces an agent-based simulation that can quantify the impact of certain aspects of D&I on corporate performance. The simulation provides a parsimonious and compelling explanation of the impact of hiring and promotion biases on the resulting corporate gender balance, accurately replicating real-world data about gender imbalances across multiple industry sectors. In addition, the paper shows that the simulation can be used to predict the likely impact of different D&I interventions. Specifically, once a company has become imbalanced, even removing all promotion biases is not sufficient to rectify the situation, and it can take decades to undo the imbalances initially created by these biases. These and other results demonstrate that agent-based simulation is a powerful approach for managing D&I in corporate settings and could become an invaluable tool for the strategic and tactical management of human resources. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T09:12:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bee54d77d7764e6db706632bfffa4f25 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T09:12:21Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-bee54d77d7764e6db706632bfffa4f252023-11-16T18:56:00ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172023-02-01134245710.3390/app13042457An Agent-Based Simulation of How Promotion Biases Impact Corporate Gender DiversityChibin Zhang0Paolo Gaudiano1Aleria PBC, 101 Avenue of the Americas, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10013, USAAleria Research Corp, 132 W 31st Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USADiversity and inclusion (D&I) is a topic of increasing relevance across virtually all sectors of our society, with the potential for a significant impact on corporations and more broadly on our economy and society. While people are typically the most valuable asset of every organization, human resources (HR) in general, and D&I in particular, are dominated by qualitative approaches. This paper introduces an agent-based simulation that can quantify the impact of certain aspects of D&I on corporate performance. The simulation provides a parsimonious and compelling explanation of the impact of hiring and promotion biases on the resulting corporate gender balance, accurately replicating real-world data about gender imbalances across multiple industry sectors. In addition, the paper shows that the simulation can be used to predict the likely impact of different D&I interventions. Specifically, once a company has become imbalanced, even removing all promotion biases is not sufficient to rectify the situation, and it can take decades to undo the imbalances initially created by these biases. These and other results demonstrate that agent-based simulation is a powerful approach for managing D&I in corporate settings and could become an invaluable tool for the strategic and tactical management of human resources.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/4/2457diversity and inclusiongenderagent-based simulationagent-based modelingapplied complexity sciencecorporate management |
| spellingShingle | Chibin Zhang Paolo Gaudiano An Agent-Based Simulation of How Promotion Biases Impact Corporate Gender Diversity Applied Sciences diversity and inclusion gender agent-based simulation agent-based modeling applied complexity science corporate management |
| title | An Agent-Based Simulation of How Promotion Biases Impact Corporate Gender Diversity |
| title_full | An Agent-Based Simulation of How Promotion Biases Impact Corporate Gender Diversity |
| title_fullStr | An Agent-Based Simulation of How Promotion Biases Impact Corporate Gender Diversity |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Agent-Based Simulation of How Promotion Biases Impact Corporate Gender Diversity |
| title_short | An Agent-Based Simulation of How Promotion Biases Impact Corporate Gender Diversity |
| title_sort | agent based simulation of how promotion biases impact corporate gender diversity |
| topic | diversity and inclusion gender agent-based simulation agent-based modeling applied complexity science corporate management |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/4/2457 |
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