Strategies for recruiting people of color professionals: A systematic review of talent pipelines for recruitment in U.S. organizations

Managers at all levels of organizations are responsible for executing diversity strategies. This dissertation focuses on those strategies that include attracting and hiring people of color for professional work roles. The ecosystem approach is of particular interest in recruiting strategies. It includes human capital pipelines (HCP), the practice and process of attracting and recruiting persons from schools and other sources of talent into professional careers. HCP has a significant influence in attracting people of color, yet pipelines can lead people of color to have misconceptions about the fit between their career aspirations and an organization’s culture. These disruptions, called broken and leaky human capital pipelines, result in a lack of qualified candidates and missed hiring opportunities for meeting diversity goals. This is where diversity and hiring managers can serve as change agents in resolving these HCP disruptions, yet they are often underutilized for their expertise. This systematic review and thematic synthesis of 36 peer-reviewed empirical studies addressed the research question, what recruitment strategies will increase access to people of color as job candidates for professional roles in U.S. organizations? The theoretical framework of human capital theory, resource-based theory, and agency theory provided a basis for the search strategy and collection of research data. Three themes and five findings emerged from a three-stage open coding process and were the basis for management recommendations for recruitment strategies for attracting people of color to professional work roles. Implementation of these strategies could expand the candidate pool and develop equitable recruiting and selection processes. The recommendations are a guide for managers trying to fix leaky pipelines: (a) U.S. organizations seeking to hire a diverse workforce would benefit from the development and maintenance of diversity management strategies, (b) diversity managers can build human capital pipelines by establishing diverse connections, and (c) diversity managers can develop and execute training programs on organizational diversity on an ongoing basis. These recommendations will support the adoption of HCP policies designed to increase the number of people of color as job candidates for professional roles. They will also aid diversity managers seeking to employ an ecosystem approach to improve recruitment strategies. Hiring managers will benefit by implementing tools and best practices during the recruitment process. Finally, scholars and researchers who plan to investigate diversity recruitment strategies to help fix broken and leaky human capital pipelines could benefit from the findings in this dissertation.DOCTOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Doctoral candidate: MICHELE WILSON has completed the dissertation requirements for the Doctor of Business Administration or Doctor of Management Program at the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC). Dissertation Title: STRATEGIES FOR RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF TALENT PIPELINES FOR RECRUITMENT IN U.S. ORGANIZATIONS Dissertation Defense Committee: _______________________________ ________________________ Dissertation Mentor (Primary) Date Dr. DEBORAH WHARFF ________________________________ ________________________ Dissertation Mentor (Secondary) Date Dr. JOSEPH DRASIN ________________________________ ________________________ Third Committee Member Date Dr. SAAD LARAQUI RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS Abstract Title of Dissertation: STRATEGIES FOR RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF TALENT PIPELINES FOR RECRUITMENT IN U.S. ORGANIZATIONS Michele Wilson, Doctor of Business Administration, 2021 Managers at all levels of organizations are responsible for executing diversity strategies. This dissertation focuses on those strategies that include attracting and hiring people of color for professional work roles. The ecosystem approach is of particular interest in recruiting strategies. It includes human capital pipelines (HCP), the practice and process of attracting and recruiting persons from schools and other sources of talent into professional careers. HCP has a significant influence in attracting people of color, yet pipelines can lead people of color to have misconceptions about the fit between their career aspirations and an organization’s culture. These disruptions, called broken and leaky human capital pipelines, result in a lack of qualified candidates and missed hiring opportunities for meeting diversity goals. This is where diversity and hiring managers can serve as change agents in resolving these HCP disruptions, yet they are often underutilized for their expertise. This systematic review and thematic synthesis of 36 peer-reviewed empirical studies addressed the research question, what recruitment strategies will increase access to people of color as job candidates for professional roles in U.S. organizations? The theoretical framework of human capital theory, resource-based theory, and agency theory provided a basis for the search strategy and collection of research data. Three RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS themes and five findings emerged from a three-stage open coding process and were the basis for management recommendations for recruitment strategies for attracting people of color to professional work roles. Implementation of these strategies could expand the candidate pool and develop equitable recruiting and selection processes. The recommendations are a guide for managers trying to fix leaky pipelines: (a) U.S. organizations seeking to hire a diverse workforce would benefit from the development and maintenance of diversity management strategies, (b) diversity managers can build human capital pipelines by establishing diverse connections, and (c) diversity managers can develop and execute training programs on organizational diversity on an ongoing basis. These recommendations will support the adoption of HCP policies designed to increase the number of people of color as job candidates for professional roles. They will also aid diversity managers seeking to employ an ecosystem approach to improve recruitment strategies. Hiring managers will benefit by implementing tools and best practices during the recruitment process. Finally, scholars and researchers who plan to investigate diversity recruitment strategies to help fix broken and leaky human capital pipelines could benefit from the findings in this dissertation. Keywords: recruitment strategies, human capital pipelines, people of color, ecosystem approach, diversity practices, leaky pipeline, broken pipeline RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS STRATEGIES FOR RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF TALENT PIPELINES FOR RECRUITMENT IN U.S. ORGANIZATIONS By Michele Wilson Dissertation Advisors: Dr. Deborah Wharff Dr. Joseph Drasin Dissertation submitted to the School of Business, University of Maryland Global Campus, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Business Administration 2021 RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS © Copyright by [Michele Wilson] 2021 RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS ii Dedication I dedicate my dissertation to my parents and siblings, whose dreams were for us to attain the utmost potential. My only regret is that my parents, Thomas and Merle, and brother, Paul, are not with us to celebrate this accomplishment. My surviving siblings, Juliet, Gary, Carolyn, and Kimberly, always kept me focused and balanced. Your patience, support, encouragement, and sacrifices have not gone unnoticed. To my nieces and nephews, your Aunt Michele will now have time for vacations, chorus performances, dance recitals, and anything else you choose. To Ron, thank you for believing in me, listening to me, and talking me off each ledge. Finally, to Dr. Willie Woolfolk, your words became my mantra throughout this program: “quitting is not an option.” I am thankful for the support of my extended family and my friends. The check-in text messages, the shortened phone calls, and all the words of encouragement. Your cheers were all heard and appreciated. So, Maria, let our conversations continue; dissertations are completed, but our work will continue. RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS iii Acknowledgments Achieving this milestone required the sustained guidance and commitment provided by Dr. Deborah Wharff. With Dr. Wharff's super vision this year, we explored so many rabbit holes, identified and pulled through many threads, and unpacked many concepts and ideas. I thank Dr. Wharff for guiding me through these complex paths, culminating in a successful dissertation. As with most achievements, numerous parties contribute to the overall success. So, I will be remiss not to recognize the contributions of a few other key professionals. First, I thank Dr. Joseph Drasin, whose comments and feedback forced me to dig deeper, searching for a better product. Second, I thank Cynthia Thomes, UMGC librarian whose skills made this possible. Third, I thank Marina Caminis, whose administrative skills made the process straightforward. To my cohort, congratulations, and I offer my sincere gratitude for our bond and support that will be with me always. Finally, to those unnamed, and there were many, I offer my heartfelt thanks. RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS iv Table of Contents Dedication .................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview of the Management Problem ......................................................... 1 Background and Overview ........................................................................................................................ 4 Human Capital Pipelines ....................................................................................................................... 5 The Recruitment Process ...................................................................................................................... 8 Hiring for Diversity ............................................................................................................................... 9 Diversity Management....................................................................................................................... 12 Problem Statement and Significance of the Problem ............................................................................. 14 Purpose of the Study and The Research Question ................................................................................. 16 Rationale for the Study or Significance of the Study .............................................................................. 18 Definitions and Terminology ................................................................................................................... 19 Limitations/Delimitations ....................................................................................................................... 21 Chapter Summary .................................................................................................................................. 21 Organization of the Dissertation ............................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 2: Scoping Literature Review and Theoretical Frame ................................................................... 23 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................................... 24 The Human Capital Theory ................................................................................................................. 26 Resource-Based Theory ...................................................................................................................... 29 Agency Theory ................................................................................................................................... 31 RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS v The Literature Landscape ........................................................................................................................ 34 Ecosystem, Workforce Diversity, and Human Capital Pipelines ......................................................... 34 Organizational Culture and People of Color Perceptions ................................................................... 39 The Role of Diversity Managers and Hiring Managers ....................................................................... 41 Recruiting with Technology ................................................................................................................ 44 Person-Environment Fit Model ........................................................................................................... 47 Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................................................... 50 Chapter Summary .................................................................................................................................. 51 Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology .......................................................................................... 53 The Evidence-based Framework ............................................................................................................. 55 Evidence-based Research ................................................................................................................... 55 Evidence-based Practice and Management ....................................................................................... 56 Systematic Reviews ................................................................................................................................ 58 Approach To Systematic Review Research Questions ........................................................................ 60 Search Strategy ...................................................................................................................................... 62 Search Process ................................................................................................................................... 64 Search Results Management .............................................................................................................. 65 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria .......................................................................................................... 66 Method of Quality Appraisal of the Included Studies ............................................................................. 67 Evaluation Approach ........................................................................................................................... 67 Analysis and Synthesis Method .............................................................................................................. 70 Process of Synthesis ............................................................................................................................ 70 Subject Matter Experts ........................................................................................................................... 71 Chapter Summary .................................................................................................................................. 73 RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS vi Chapter 4: Analysis and Findings ................................................................................................................ 74 Review of the Research Question ........................................................................................................... 74 Description of the Data Set ..................................................................................................................... 75 Establishing Final Data Set ...................................................................................................................... 76 Literature Search and Screening Results ............................................................................................ 77 Results of the Quality Appraisal Process ............................................................................................ 77 Final PRISMA Details ........................................................................................................................... 77 Coding and Analysis of Selected Articles ............................................................................................ 79 Results of the Coding Process ............................................................................................................. 79 Findings and Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 80 Theme 1: Successful recruiting of people of color by diversity and hiring managers ........................ 81 Finding 1. Standardized and formalized recruiting strategies and tools are used. ............................ 83 Theme 2: People of color job candidates affected by organizational reputation and culture. .......... 94 Finding 2: Diversity and Hiring Managers Need to be Involved in the Recruitment Process. ............ 97 Finding 3. Employees’ Experiences Shared Externally Affect People of Color Job Seekers. ............ 103 Theme 3: Diversity managers could mend broken and leaky human capital pipelines. .................. 111 Finding 4: Adopting a more robust ecosystem approach to recruitment outreach. ........................ 113 Finding 5: The Pipeline Access to People of Color was Enriched by Mentoring. .............................. 118 Summary of Findings ............................................................................................................................. 120 Theme 1 ........................................................................................................................................... 120 Theme 2 ........................................................................................................................................... 121 Theme 3 ........................................................................................................................................... 123 Revised Conceptual Model ................................................................................................................... 124 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................................................ 126 RECRUITING PEOPLE OF COLOR PROFESSIONALS vii Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications .................................................................................................. 127 Review of the Research ......................................................................................................................... 128 Answer to the Research Question ........................................................................................................ 129 Summary of Findings ............................................................................................................................. 130 Summary of Finding 1 ....................................................................................................................... 130 Summary of Finding 2 ....................................................................................................................... 131 Summary of Finding 3 ....................................................................................................................... 132 Summary of Finding 4 ....................................................................................................................... 132 Summary of Finding 5 ....................................................................................................................... 132 Management Implications and Recommendations .............................................................................. 133 Recommendation 1. Maintain an Effective Diversity Management Recruitment Strategy ............. 133 Recommendation 2. Build Talent Pipelines through an Ecosystem-Approach to Recruiting ........... 137 Recommendation 3. Develop Organizational Diversity Program Training ....................................... 138 Limitations of the Study ........................................................................................................................ 139 Areas for Future Research .................................................................................................................... 140 Final Summary and Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 141 References ............................................................................................................................................... 142 Appendix A Databases Included in UMGC OneSearch Aggregator .....