Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

2-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Psychology

Advisor

Harold Goldstein

Committee Members

Charles Scherbaum

Dia Chatterjee

Yochi Cohen-Charash

Glenn Albright

Subject Categories

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Industrial and Organizational Psychology | Other Political Science | Training and Development

Keywords

Political Ideology, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Training, Psychological Reactance, Political Polarization

Abstract

In recent years, the prevalence of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) trainings in organizations has grown significantly (Wang et al., 2024). DEI trainings are typically designed with the purpose of educating organizational members on DEI-related content and promoting feelings of inclusion in the workplace (Devine & Ash, 2022). Much like many other types of organizational training efforts, the effectiveness of DEI trainings is contingent on a variety of input factors. One such factor that has been extensively covered in the broader training literature but relatively understudied in DEI training research is trainee characteristics. Since DEI trainings are values-based, ethically prescriptive interventions, individual characteristics related to values and prescriptive worldviews may be particularly important variables to consider. Thus, the current study examined how participant political ideology predicted differences in training effectiveness between participants after exposure to an online DEI training module. It was hypothesized that participants with a conservative political ideology would demonstrate less positive reactions, less learning, and less intended behavior change following a DEI training compared to participants with a liberal ideology. Additionally, it was hypothesized that the relationship between trainee ideology and trainee reactions to a diversity training would be moderated by political polarization, while the relationship between ideology and learning was predicted to be mediated by motivation to learn. Lastly, it was predicted that the relationship between trainee political ideology and behavioral intent would be mediated by psychological reactance. Results were mostly supportive of the stated hypotheses. Implications for organizations and DEI research are provided.

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