New DFG project: "Beyond Headcounts: Rethinking Corporate Diversity and Inclusion"

We are delighted that the German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved our research project "Beyond Headcounts: Rethinking Corporate Diversity and Inclusion" for funding. The project is led by Prof. Dr. Peter Schäfer and Dr. Philipp Richter and will run for 36 months.

Many companies measure diversity and inclusion primarily on the basis of demographic key figures - such as the proportion of women in leadership positions. Whether different ways of thinking are actually welcome and whether all employees can contribute their ideas on an equal footing often remains unclear. This is precisely where our project comes in.

We are pursuing three goals: First, we are using machine learning and text analytics to develop a new measure of diversity and inclusion that goes beyond demographic characteristics - based on employee evaluations and corporate communications. We will make this measure publicly available to the research community. Second, we are investigating which governance measures - in particular the composition of supervisory boards and the design of executive remuneration - promote an inclusive corporate culture. Thirdly, we are investigating whether greater diversity and inclusion can help prevent accounting manipulation.