Journal Article

Although CEO commitment is recognized as being crucial to organizational diversity efforts, we know little about how CEOs signal their priorities and mobilize key organizational actors to implement diversity management. We tested an integrative model in which CEO beliefs about diversity were theorized to predict the implementation of organizational diversity practices through two consecutive mediating steps--via greater CEO engagement in pro-diversity behavior, and in turn, higher perceived CEO commitment by their HR manager. In this model, we also proposed a moderating effect such that when CEOs have less positive beliefs about diversity, CEOs espousing higher moral values will display greater pro-diversity behavior. Results supported the proposed model. Taken together, our findings indicate that a CEO's words and actions alone are not sufficient for the implementation of diversity management practices. HR managers must view their CEOs as being committed to workplace diversity in order for diversity management practices to be implemented.

To deliver truly representative and effective democratic governance, a public service (PS) should employ individuals from diverse backgrounds throughout its workforce. In the Canadian government, patterns of underrepresentation persist for each of the four employment equity (EE) groups. This study explores three questions: First, are there differences between the four EE groups in terms of their attraction to jobs in the public sector? Second, what are key work values that predict PS attraction? Third, do EE groups differ in terms of these key work values? Based on a large-scale survey of more than 12,000 final-year Canadian postsecondary students, results indicate that women, Aboriginals, and persons with disabilities report higher levels of PS attraction than visible minorities. Work values such as job security, commitment to social responsibility, benefits, and commitment to diversity were strongly associated with PS attraction, and EE groups differed in their evaluations of the relative importance of these work values.

In this paper, we propose that multiculturalism can serve as an effective public policy tool to enhance a nation's competitiveness, in an era characterized by financial crises, globalization, immigration, and changing demographics. Specifically, we articulate how multiculturalism and strategic tolerance of differences can promote socioeconomic mobility for individuals, and act as the œglue that binds immigrants and host country nationals together. We also demonstrate how multiculturalism can attract skilled talents necessary for nation building. Immigrants who retain their ties with their countries of origin (home countries) can serve as natural trade links for their countries of residence (host country) and contribute to a reverse œbrain flow rather than a brain gain/drain for the countries of residence/origin. We conclude by explicating that immigrants can be a source of competitive advantage for countries when a multiculturalism policy is in place.

This paper evaluates the economic benefits of self‐employment in Canada for 12 groups of ethno‐racial immigrants. It tests whether or not their self‐employment earnings are higher or lower than similar groups in wage and salary employment, whether ethnic minorities earn more or less from self‐employment compared to White immigrants, and whether self‐employment earnings of immigrant groups vary by their industrial sectors of employment. Using the Canadian Census 2006, I show that self‐employed ethno‐racial immigrants earn less than White immigrants. I also show that the economic benefits of self‐employment depend on the ethno‐racial groups and the industrial mix of their self‐employment.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) funds community-based organizations to provide services such as official language training, job placement, and community engagement in a decentralized model of immigrant service provision. This approach to settlement services has been simultaneously praised as a model of best practice and criticized for inefficiency. Partly in response to criticism, in 2008 IRCC implemented the Modernized Approach to Settlement Services, a management strategy that maintains the department’s decentralized approach to funding settlement service provision but introduces several important changes. First, the Modernized Approach consolidates settlement services into a single Settlement Program to streamline the application process. Second, the Modernized Approach focuses on project outcomes rather than just measuring inputs and outputs. And third, the Modernized Approach creates avenues for grass-roots organizations to have a voice in the governance of the Settlement Program. While a few studies have discussed the Modernized Approach to Settlement Services as a promising way forward, this is the first article to examine its impact empirically. Using key informant perspectives as a guide, this article provides an overview of the areas and extent to which it has created improvements over IRCC’s previous approach to settlement services, and it identifies areas for potential improvements.

A large number of studies have focused on the neoliberal political and economic restructuring of non-profit immigrant settlement agencies (ISAs) through a policy analysis framework. While policy analysis is key to determining how resources are distributed among non-profit organizations, the challenges that ISAs encounter in planning and delivering services extend beyond limited financial resources in the sector. This research focuses on the system-level challenges ISAs encounter in planning and delivering services to newcomers in the suburban municipality of the Peel Region, Ontario, Canada. Twenty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with frontline staff and executive directors in settlement organizations in Peel Region, Ontario, Canada, to understand the complex challenges they face within a highly federalized and neoliberal policy environment. The results indicate that although funding dollars are a large concern for ISAs, the conditions attached to funding, such as the types of programs settlement providers are able to offer, mandatory quotas, and restrictive eligibility criteria, hinder ISAs from being able to plan and implement programs that better respond to the needs of immigrants in Peel Region. The results also demonstrate that restrictive funding criteria contribute to competition with other ISAs for limited resources and challenge the structure and continuity of programs. Many of these challenges are exacerbated by the transportation system unique to suburban settings.

The purpose of this study was to examine how perceptions of a chilly climate differ between students in traditionally female-dominated majors (nursing and education) versus traditionally male-dominated majors (information technology and engineering), and how these perceptions relate to students' intentions to persist or pursue higher education in their chosen field. Students (n = 403) attending a community college completed the 28-item Perceived Chilly Climate Scale (PCCS). The primary research question asked: To what extent can scores on the five subscales of the PCCS be explained by the predictor variable set of gender, ethnicity, age, college major, and intent to leave the field? Canonical correlation analysis indicated that women found the climate chillier than men, non-white students found the climate chillier than white students, younger students perceived the climate chillier than older students, and students in traditionally female-dominated majors perceived the climate chillier than students in traditionally male-dominated majors. Intent to leave the field was not a significant predictor of perceptions of chilly climate.

Individual placement and support (IPS) is a vocational rehabilitation programme that was developed in the USA to improve employment outcomes for people with severe mental illness. Its ability to be generalised to other countries and its effectiveness in varying economic conditions remains to be ascertained. To investigate whether IPS is effective across international settings and in different economic conditions. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials comparing IPS with traditional vocational services was undertaken; 17 studies, as well as 2 follow-up studies, were included. Meta-regressions were carried out to examine whether IPS effectiveness varied according to geographic location, unemployment rates or gross domestic product (GDP) growth. The overall pooled risk ratio for competitive employment using IPS compared with traditional vocational rehabilitation was 2.40 (95% CI 1.99'2.90). Meta-regressions indicated that neither geographic area nor unemployment rates affected the overall effectiveness of IPS. Even when a country's GDP growth was less than 2% IPS was significantly more effective than traditional vocational training, and its benefits remained evident over 2 years. Individual placement and support is an effective intervention across a variety of settings and economic conditions and is more than twice as likely to lead to competitive employment when compared with traditional vocational rehabilitation.