The End of DEI

The Hitchhiker's Guide to an Inclusive Accounting Profession: Navigating the Shifting Sands of DEI

At present, work related to the diverse needs of current and prospective accounting practitioners, regardless of how they identify, has come under attack, especially in the United States. Initiatives variously labeled as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB); equity, diversity, Indigeneity, inclusion, and belonging (EDIIB); or some other acronym of equity and inclusion have been targeted by US government officials who seek to exterminate these efforts through intimidation. Some organizations have resisted the pressure, but others have capitulated, rescinding previous claims of the importance of diversity and inclusion in the business world. As DEI policy commitments vanish, part of the DEI world crumbles. For the accounting profession, it is an old story: Profit‐logic prevails over social justice. For those still interested in the latter, what is the next step? How can practitioners promote the goals of DEI in a way that works? This paper seeks to provide guidance to practitioners by (1) sharing best practices, (2) providing a window into relevant research, and (3) providing thoughtful tips to help practitioners navigate the present attempts to minimize the DEI world.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in India, Future Outlook amid Changing Global Narratives

This research explores the evolving landscape of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) within the Indian corporate sector, with a particular focus on the perspectives and practices of Human Resource professionals. Against the backdrop of global socio-political shifts—such as the rollback of DEI mandates under the Trump administration in the United States—this study aims to assess how DEI is conceptualized, implemented, and received in the Indian context. The paper begins by defining DEI in the workplace, emphasizing its strategic importance in promoting inclusive cultures and equitable opportunities across diverse workforces. Utilizing a quantitative approach, primary data was collected through structured questionnaires distributed to HR professionals across various sectors. The analysis employed descriptive statistics, Chi-Square tests, and ANOVA to evaluate relationships between organizational type, leadership support, implementation challenges, and anticipated future trends in DEI. Key findings reveal both progressive efforts and significant resistance—particularly toward diverse hiring initiatives—highlighting the complexity of embedding DEI deeply into organizational strategy. The study concludes with practical recommendations for strengthening DEI frameworks in Indian organizations, while also acknowledging the limitations of self-reported data and sample scope. This research contributes to a localized understanding of DEI and offers insights that can inform policy, leadership development, and long-term strategic planning.

“Who Leads?” When Governance Diversity Is Not Enough

Why do underrepresented individuals sit on some boards and not others? How do underrepresented individuals recategorize themselves and others as in-group members? Festivals and events are part of interlocking networks, with creative organizations providing content for them. Despite increasing importance of creative sector diversity in fostering inclusion and effective decision-making, with implications for governance, recategorization of underrepresented individuals as in-group members remains underresearched. This oversight limits opportunities for festival and event leaders to shine in governance diversity. Using recategorization as the overarching theory, findings suggest that higher representation of women and ethnic minorities on boards is linked to factors specific to the context. The findings suggest demographically different directors recategorize themselves as in-group members, using skills/credentials and networking, to help contribute to inclusive governance. Yet curiously there is still lingering doubt regarding their competence, with implications for professional development to take the sector forward.

What is society?

Tax fairness: Shifting the tax burden towards the upper end?

Scheve and Stasavage (2016) argue that different fairness norms were historically linked to changes in tax progressivity. Based on this work, we explored three fairness principles underpinning tax rates determination: equality (i.e., the government should treat all citizens equally), ability to pay (i.e., rich individuals have the ability to pay more taxes), and compensation (i.e., rich individuals should compensate for previous privileges). Across one archival study on 84 National constitutions and two main studies (Ntotal = 697), we investigated the emergence and preference for these norms and their relation with attitudes towards inequality and redistribution. In support of Scheve and Stasavage's arguments, results show that, when applied to taxation, compensation is the least mentioned in National constitutions; nevertheless, its endorsement is the strongest predictor of the support of higher tax rates for the wealthiest part of society. Importantly, however, people struggle with explicitly distinguishing the compensation and ability to pay beliefs, suggesting that these principles may be engaged at a more implicit level.

The Limits of Performance

While governance performance is often regarded as the cornerstone of the Chinese Communist Party’s legitimacy, its capacity to sustain national identity among a generation socialized in prosperity remains a critical question. Challenging the assumption of a linear relationship, this article examines the mechanisms and limits of performance-based legitimacy through two novel studies. In a priming experiment with 652 high school students, exposure to images of China’s development achievements did not significantly increase national identity and in fact lowered students’ reported sense of responsibility. A second survey of 1,625 university students reveals an inverted-U-shaped relationship between evaluations of governance performance and national identity. The relationship is conditioned by equity values and attribution of development problems: governance performance most strongly reinforces identity when individuals attach high importance to social justice but also attribute developmental problems to the government. These findings reveal the fragility of a legitimacy model based solely on material outputs.