Considerable research has been conducted examining the benefits of diversity on campus and diversity programming for undergraduate students. However, minimal research has been focused on connecting reading fiction as a potential resource for diversity programming. Diversity courses, racial awareness workshops, and service learning opportunities are all supported by research for their transformational influence on students’ attitudes and perceptions towards minority and underrepresented groups on campus. Emerging studies have established that reading narrative fiction can enhance readers’ empathic and multicultural attitudes, shift perspectives and outlooks, and enhance moral reasoning. Benefits such as these could be harnessed to cultivate a campus culture that is inclusive and celebrates diversity. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to explore the relationship between self-reported reading habits of undergraduate students and multicultural awareness and acceptance scores, measured by the Survey of Self-Reported Reading Habits and Diversity Orientation of Undergraduate Students. A 33-item paper survey was distributed to 389 students enrolled in courses in the College of Business, College of Education, and College of Nursing at a public university in East Tennessee. Three hundred eighty-three usable surveys were collected from a sample size of 389, a 98% response rate. Results from the 2-way ANOVA analysis on the 9 research questions indicated that respondents who read at an avid or moderate level typically had higher scores revealing more openness and appreciation for diversity. Also, the majority of respondents reported reading at least at a moderate frequency level and fiction is one of the most preferred reading genres. The findings provide further support that reading literary fiction is a credible resource for fostering empathy and increasing tolerance on this campus.

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Corporations closely monitor social change to assess potential risks to their strategic objectives. As seen in the social unrest of 2019, their reliance on diversity initiatives demonstrated their solidarity. Such efforts, heightened by stakeholder influence can obscure the attitudes and perceptions of those they most rely upon to carry out these policies. While corporate leaders set these initiatives, managers implement and oversee them. This dissertation explores managerial attitudes and perceptions toward diversity management initiatives. It benchmarks this endeavor through two studies. Study 1 establishes the groundwork for this investigation by building a theoretical framework and identifying a research gap concerning the need for validated Diversity Management Initiatives (DMI) scales. Study 2 methodologically develops novel DMI measurements and assesses the current state of managers’ demeanors toward diversity mechanisms. This research provides valuable, scholarly insights into diversity management's contemporary, shifting landscape. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

<p dir="ltr">Although diversity initiatives can signal identity safety for individuals with stigmatized identities, they often elicit threat responses from dominant group members. How do individuals possessing both a dominant and a non-dominant identity perceive diversity initiatives targeting a stigmatized outgroup? Drawing from literature on the identity safety cue transfer effect and social identity theory, this research examined White women’s responses to organizational diversity initiatives targeting Black Americans. White women indicated less interest and anticipated less inclusion in an organization with an initiative for Black Americans (Studies 1a and 1b). They also expressed less interest and inclusion when reading an initiative that exerted strong outgroup benefit, but not when reading an initiative that exerted a weak outgroup benefit (Study 2). The negative effects of strong outgroup benefit condition was larger among participants who endorsed high zero-sum beliefs. These findings suggest that people may only experience identity safety when an initiative implies potential downstream benefits to their own group. It also highlights the need to consider the complex interplay of social identities in response to diversity initiatives.</p>