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President Donald Trump’s executive orders cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion, in both the public and private sectors struck fear into the hearts of employers. But many, including companies like Apple, Costco and Disney, did not back down — creating a sort of narrative battle between which path would be viable in the long run.
So one research team decided to try and quantify it. Jacob Grumbach, an associate professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and Hanna Folsz, a Stanford University political science doctoral candidate, sought to determine if companies that rolled back DEI performed better than their peers.
Per Grumbach and Folsz’ research, they did not.
“Markets Do Not Punish Firms for Maintaining DEI” showed how employers who did not roll back their DEI commitments, such as Cisco, Delta Airlines, JPMorgan Chase and Microsoft, among others, outperformed their fellow S&P 500 companies — such as Citigroup, Dollar General, Target and Walmart — who did. Grumbach was curious about both the business and political aspects of DEI decisions, he told HR Dive over the phone.
