The right thing to do or the smart thing to do? How communicating moral or business motives for diversity affects the employment image of Dutch public and private sector organizations

Many organizations have diversity statements in place in which they publicly declare their appreciation of and commitment to workforce diversity. These statements can either contain moral motives (e.g., “diversity reduces social inequalities”), business motives (e.g., “diversity enhances innovation”), or a combination of moral and business motives. In a desk study involving 182 Dutch organizations, we found that (a) private sector organizations more often than public sector organizations communicate business motives, (b) that public and private sector organizations are equally likely to communicate moral motives, and (c) that public sector organizations more frequently than private sector organizations communicate a combination of moral and business motives. Next, we used an experimental design to examine the causal influence of communicating different diversity motives on organizations' employment image (i.e., perceptions of organizational morality, competence, and attractiveness) among prospective employees (n = 393). Here, we used a scenario in which a healthcare organization was portrayed as either a public or a private sector organization and communicated either only moral motives, only business motives or a combination of moral and business motives for diversity. We found that for a public sector organization communicating moral instead of business motives for valuing diversity induced a more favorable employment image. For a private sector organization, there were no differences in employment image depending on the motive communicated. Together, these two studies shed new light on the role of diversity motives in establishing a positive employment image.     

A Survey of Hospital Services for Suicidal Persons

ABSTRACT: A person who threatens or attempts suicide, arriving for treatment at any 1 of 10 hospitals serving a suburban area in the Bay Area of California, will be met with a variety of responses by different kinds of personnel, depending on the hospital to which he comes. In half of the hospitals, he could be subsequently discharged without psychiatric consultation of any kind. Follow-through on any outpatient referral would usually be left up to him. Although a few hospitals attend to the problem of suicidal persons in many important respects, other hospitals pay little attention to these same aspects. Because of the important role of the hospital in the prevention of suicide, it is recommended that the hospital's function in dealing with suicidal patients be better defined, extended, and made more consistent.     

Suicidality Among Chronically Homeless People with Alcohol Problems Attenuates Following Exposure to Housing First

This study is the first to document suicidality among chronically homeless people with alcohol problems (N = 134) and examine its trajectory following exposure to immediate, permanent, low‐barrier housing (i.e., Housing First). Suicidal ideation, intent, plans, and prior attempts were assessed at baseline and during a 2‐year follow‐up. Baseline suicidal ideation was over four times higher than in the general population. Two‐year, within‐subjects, longitudinal analyses indicated severity of suicidal ideation decreased by 43% from baseline to follow‐up. Significant decreases were also found for intent and clinical significance of ideation. No participants died by suicide during the 2‐year follow‐up.