Woke washing won't work: The effects of inclusive cues on online employee review sites on job seekers’ application intentions

The rise of online employee review sites presents a unique opportunity to assess the diversity practices and workplace inclusiveness of hospitality organizations from both internal (organization-stated values) and external (crowdsourced reviews) perspectives. This research examines the nature and effects of inclusive cues in two studies. Study 1 analyzes 117 North American lodging companies on Glassdoor.com, finding that only ten specified organizational inclusive cues, while over half had inconsistencies between inclusive cues in organization overviews and diversity reviews. Drawing on organizational trust theory, Study 2 examines how and when the interactive effects between inclusive cue incongruence and organizational inclusive cues impact job seekers’ application intentions. A two (inclusive cue incongruence) by two (organizational inclusive cues) by job seekers’ reverse discrimination between-subject quasi-experiment reveals that the interaction affects application intentions through perceived organizational hypocrisy. Furthermore, reverse discrimination moderates this effect. This study offers theoretical and practical insights into managing inclusive cues.