Scheduled to appear in the November 2023 edition of the Journal of Business Research, “Stock price implications of DEI initiatives when liberties of vulnerable groups are politically undermined-Evidence from veterans and LGBT groups,” is now available online.
The study is authored by Inchan Kim, assistant professor of decision sciences, and his longtime research assistant Brandon McNeil ’20. The study notes that social groups in the U.S. are often supported and undermined depending on who the president is, and the researchers investigate the recent presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, who showed stark differences in treating two social groups—military veterans and LGBT groups.
The researchers found that DEI initiatives conducted to assist a social group resulted in higher stock prices during the presidency undermining the group than during the presidency supportive of the group.
Study highlights include:
- DEI when liberties of vulnerable groups are undermined generates higher stock prices.
- DEI for LGBT groups under Trump generated higher stock prices than under Obama.
- DEI for veterans under Obama generated higher stock prices than under Trump.
- Findings highlight stakeholder theory rooted in Rawls' idea of justice as fairness.
- Findings stem from DEI reported in tweets screened through artificial intelligence.
Overall, the study encourages more research highlighting the upsides of corporate initiatives for those who have been on the periphery of stakeholder management. It also highlights the benefits of shifting views from the firm-centric economic roles of stakeholders toward the more inclusive social identity perspective.
