JOURNAL ARTICLE

Adoption of LGBT-Inclusive Policies: Social Construction, Coercion, or Competition?

  • Published In: Social Forces, 2023, v. 101, n. 3. P. 1116 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Gardberg, Naomi A; Newburry, William; Hudson, Bryant A; Viktora-Jones, Magdalena 3 of 3

Abstract

This article examines the adoption of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)-inclusive workplace policies by U.S. firms within a complex and contested institutional environment characterized by competing coercive, social constructivist, and competitive forces. Using a longitudinal dataset of 283 Fortune 500 firms’ policy ratings from 2002 to 2014 provided by the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI), the study finds that state-level prohibitions on same-sex marriage negatively influence LGBT-inclusive policy adoption, while shareholder activist resolutions and industry-level adoption exert positive coercive and competitive pressures, respectively. Social construction forces, such as public consensus on marriage equality and advocacy by human resource specialists, show more limited and dimension-specific effects, primarily influencing equal employment opportunity policies. The findings highlight the uneven and multifaceted diffusion of LGBT workplace policies shaped by legal, social, and market dynamics in a stigmatized and politically fragmented U.S. context.

Additional Information

  • Source:Social Forces. 2023/03, Vol. 101, Issue 3, p1116
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Social Sciences and Humanities
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:0037-7732
  • DOI:10.1093/sf/soac033
  • Accession Number:161313560
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