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To contribute to the advancement of allyship theory and practice, we propose a symposium centered on new research addressing perceptions and misperceptions of allyship motivations and behavior, unintended consequences of allyship efforts, and underutilized approaches to allyship. Through this initiative, we aim to shed light on factors that can help organizations harness positive allyship intentions, ensuring the promotion of productive allyship behavior in organizational settings. Support for Class-based and Race-based Affirmative Action in Higher Education Author: Sora Jun; Rice U. Author: Peter Belmi; U. of Virginia The Personal Case for Diversity Author: Kendall Yamamoto; U. of Texas at Austin Providing An Allyship Identity to Enlist Advantaged Group Members in Diversity Efforts Author: Hannah Birnbaum; Washington U. in St. Louis, Olin Business School Author: Kaylene McClanahan; U. of California, Los Angeles Author: Margaret Shih; U. of California, Los Angeles Advantaged Group Member Response to Challenging DEI Feedback Author: Anusuya Banerjee; U. of Washington Author: Andrew Hafenbrack; U. of Washington Self-Focused or Relational-Focused Ally Work? Author: Soojin Oh; U. of Hong Kong Author: Carolyn Thi Dang; Pennsylvania State U. Author: Aparna Joshi; Ross School of Business, U. of Michigan [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) function as intermediaries between entrepreneurs and the resources of local ecosystems. We focus on St. Louis, MO and Boston, MA to compare and contrast a newly emergent versus an established entrepreneurial ecosystem to understand differences in why and how ESOs engage in gender inclusion efforts. Our in-depth fieldwork suggests inclusion efforts in St. Louis and Boston derive from different institutional pressures arising from distinct cultural cognitive, social normative, and regulatory forces in the local community. We unpack these differences and discuss implications for building an inclusive ecosystem in each context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Allies have played instrumental roles in efforts to address inequity in society. In the wake of civil unrest triggered by the shooting deaths of unarmed Black people, the brutalization of Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, and state legislatures passing laws that seek to reduce voting and women's rights, the supportive action taken by allies is gaining attention once again. This year's Academy of Management Conference theme "Creating a Better World Together" is a call to action for scholarship that provides insight into how organizations can anticipate and solve these important societal challenges. Yet, despite management scholars suggesting allyship is an effective way to create organizational change, the literature on allyship is still quite scarce. This symposium includes a collection of papers that examines open research questions pertaining to allyship including: who or what entities are able to engage in allyship behavior, why those actors choose allyship, and when (i.e., which contexts) support allyship. Following the presentations, Denise Lewin Loyd, a major contributor to research in the field of diversity and inclusion, will serve as our symposium's discussant. Together, we hope that this symposium will provide important insights into how to create meaningful change in organizations through allyship. * LEAP at Work: Examining the Effects of Race-Based Allyship Training in the Workplace * Presenter: Stephanie J. Creary; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania * Presenter: Tianna Shari' Barnes; U. of Pennsylvania * Presenter: Ozias Moore; Lehigh U. * Institutional Allyship, a Ritual of Recovery * Presenter: Tiffany Dawn Johnson; Georgia Institute of Technology * Presenter: Juanita Kimiyo Forrester; Mercer U. * Presenter: Natasha Denise Reed; Georgia Institute of Technology * Bursting the Bubble of Performative Allyship: How Moral Performance Compromises Inter-Group Learning * Presenter: Karren Kimberly Knowlton; Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth * Presenter: Rachel Arnett; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania * Who's Expected to be an Ally? An Examination of Allyship and Leadership Evaluations * Presenter: McKenzie Preston; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania * Presenter: Angelica Leigh; Fuqua School of Business, Duke U. * Presenter: Terrance L. Boyd; Louisiana State U. * Presenter: Richard Burgess; U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill * Presenter: Vic Marsh; U. of Toronto, Rotman School of Management * Practice What You Preach: Performative Allyship in Organizations' Support for Racial Equity * Presenter: Roxanne Ross; James Madison U. * Presenter: Horatio Traylor; U. of Houston * Presenter: Enrica Nicole Ruggs; U. of Houston [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent events in the United States have sparked a renewed interest in inequality, discrimination, and social injustice. Yet engaging in behaviors that enact social change is often a complex decision, for both members of marginalized and majority groups. Given the complex challenges people from different groups face when working toward greater social equity, it is imperative to understand the specific behaviors people engage in to enact social change, the decision-making process underlying these behaviors, and their downstream consequences. To this end, the proposed symposium considers how and why employees tackle concerns with inequality and push for social change within and beyond their organization, with a focus on the ways in which individuals leverage their unique social identities and/or account for the unique benefits and constraints associated with their identities. The papers in this symposium draw on both qualitative and quantitative research across organizational contexts (e.g., in Congress, among boards of directors) and multiple theoretical foundations (e.g., boundary and identity management, intersectionality, social role theories) to contribute to important ongoing conversations about diversity, inequality, identities, and social change. You Can't Be What You Can't See: Unpacking Role Models of Marginalized Group Members. Presenter: Karren Kimberly Knowlton; Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. How Minorities Leverage Racial Identity to Minimize Stigma and Achieve Social Change. Presenter: Keana Richards; U. of Pennyslvania. Presenter: Rachel Arnett; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania. Presenter: Patricia Faison Hewlin; McGill U. When and How Corporate Board Directors Leverage Their Demographic Identities to Advance Justice. Presenter: Stephanie J. Creary; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania. Words of a Leader: An Intersectional Analysis of Gender Differences in Leaders' Speech. Presenter: Cydney Dupree; Yale School of Management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship aimed at understanding the experiences and outcomes of members of historically disadvantaged, underrepresented, and marginalized social groups has largely focused on and documented the hardships and inequalities they suffer. However, our current understanding of may not capture the full range of consequences arising from social disadvantage. The goal of this symposium is to demonstrate the merit of a more balanced approach to studying the experiences of marginalized groups by considering the unique resources that they may acquire as a result - in contrast to a dominant focus on the detriments. The four papers in this symposium provide theoretical and empirical support for certain strengths that members of disadvantaged groups develop in response to enduring systematically more difficult life experiences, and how they enact such resources at work. These studies demonstrate this phenomenon across four different disadvantaged social groups, including the working class, racial minorities, women, and the LGBTQ community. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this research advances diversity scholarship by shedding light on under-explored outcomes associated with social disadvantage group membership. Employees from Different Social Class Backgrounds Use Distinct Toolkits to Navigate the Workplace. Presenter: Andrea Dittmann; Emory U., Goizueta Business School. Presenter: Nicole Stephens; Northwestern U. Presenter: Sarah S M Townsend; U. of Southern California. Together We Thrive: How Racial Discrimination Leads to Pro-group Helping and Voicing. Presenter: Ambra Mazzelli; MIT Sloan School of Management. Presenter: James T. Carter; Columbia Business School. Trailblazer Mindsets and Marginalized Groups: When Being Underrepresented Helps You Help Others. Presenter: Karren Kimberly Knowlton; Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Coping with Devaluation: Socioemotional Assets Arising from the Experience of Stigma. Presenter: Gabrielle Rose Lopiano; Emory U. Presenter: Melissa J. Williams; Emory U. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have long been interested in how employees experience minority status as tokens, overlooking the possibility that many employees may view themselves in a different way - as trailblazers. I suggest a psychological conceptualization of what it is to be a token employee, as opposed to previous definitions based on numeric representation. I present a theoretical framework for why and how minority employees' work-related experiences lead to token and trailblazer identities. By establishing the constructs of token and trailblazer identities, I redirect literature on tokenism toward a broader consideration of minority identity at work and the foundations of that identity. Further, I argue that token and trailblazer identities are independent and not mutually exclusive. I go on to explain how the interaction between these identities influences minority employees' persistence and advocacy-- behaviors that are critical for cultivating more equitable, inclusive, and diverse workplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this symposium is to explore the social dynamics of social identity transitions. To this end, the symposium will include the presentation of four papers which illustrate how social mobility (Martin and Beetz), shifts in social expectations (Knowlton), and observer judgement (Levitt, Murphy, and Pratt) influence people's work- related social identity transitions. Research on people's efforts to revise, repair, reconstruct, reinforce, or navigate work-related identities, known as "identity work" (Brown, 2015), has typically focused on situations in which individuals move across static role/job boundaries, such as from one professional role into another (e.g. Pratt, Rockmann, and Kaufmann, 2006), or how individuals manage static occupations that, by their nature, induce intrapsychic tension regarding identity (e.g. Kreiner, Hollensbe, & Sheep, 2006). Social identity transitions can be highly socially dynamic, however, with people often engaging in identity work due to changes in other individuals, institutions, and/or broad social forces (Brown, 2015; Petriglieri, 2011; Petriglieri et al., 2019). In a world that is ever more socially connected, interdependent, and transparent, the potential for social actors or forces to spur individual-level identity work by affecting a social group's boundaries or meaning is high. By featuring work that provides insight into the social dynamics of social identity transitions, this symposium draws attention to a topic that is key to understanding the inner experiences of much of the present and future workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this symposium is to examine how issues related to individual values, morality, and ethics influence the way in which people build relationships with leaders and co-workers, and ultimately, the way work gets done inside organizations. Research has heralded the significance of interpersonal relationships in the workplace, even calling relationships the most highly valued human goal (Dutton & Heaphy, 2003). This symposium illustrates how relationships at work are driven by factors that go beyond the boundaries of the organization. In particular, beliefs about right and wrong -- what is ethical and unethical -- are deeply imbued in individuals outside of the boundaries of work, but can have a profound impact at work. We propose to bring together a variety of research questions, methods, and findings to incite an interesting conversation around how the morals and values of individuals can drive the way they interact with others at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]