Diversity reporting: new publication shows that companies are positioning themselves strategically

Many companies in Europe are now required to report on diversity issues in their annual reports. In his new publication, just published in Accounting Horizons, Dr. Sebastian Oelrich, together with co-authors from Aarhus (Denmark) and Heidelberg (Germany), examines DAX40 diversity reporting.

The authors show that companies use different strategies: from explicit dismissal of diversity on the supervisory board, to concealment and imitation, and even setting their own standards. The work thus contradicts arguments often made that companies merely comply with regulation by showing that companies actively and pro-actively (re)act and even resist.

Are you a student at the faculty of business and economics and interested in the topic of business ethics? Sebastian Oelrich offers the new master course "Introduction to Business Ethics" in the winter semester. More information can be found on the chair’s homepage and in the Opal course.