HMN 2025: How Inclusive cues on job sites often fail to influence job seekers’ applications

While diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) regulations are widely accepted in the hospitality and tourism sector, new research shows applicants may still encounter barriers to securing roles because of automated processes on job sites.

Focusing on U.S. recruitment sites, a new study by Flinders University researcher Associate Professor Ashokkumar Manoharan and overseas colleagues comes as a timely reminder that potential continues for employers to pay lip-service to diversity management and inclusiveness in their recruitment practices.

The new article published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management stresses that a diverse workforce provides the best service to guests and customers, and the best organizational results.

“While many firms openly communicate their willingness to embrace diversity, equity and inclusiveness in recruiting a diverse workforce, not all organizations practice what they preach,” says co-author Dr. Manoharan, a senior lecturer at Flinders University’s College of Business, Government and Law.

“Social washing, or the use of organizational statements or policies to create a false impression of social responsibility, is commonly seen in the hospitality industry,” says Dr. Manoharan, Associate Professor (Event Management and Tourism), who researches diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in hospitality and tourism.

“Employers need to be ‘transparent and honest’ in their job-seeker communications and allocate adequate resources to meaningful efforts—rather than just lip-service promotions of their inclusive policies.”

The research analyzed data collected from more than 100 companies using the U.S. employment site, Glassdoor, finding incongruences in inclusive cues in advertising and selection. Most hospitality firms showed inconsistencies between stated inclusivity and employee ratings.

Associate Professor Manoharan—with co-authors Dr. Yunxuan Carrie Zhang (Faculty of International Tourism and Management at City University of Macau, China) and Dr. Cass Shum (from the William F Harrah College of Hospitality at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, US)—says government support or recent resistance to promote DEI policy is underpinning the way companies respond to either over-deliver or under-deliver DEI initiatives.

“Although our sample was collected in the U.S.—one of the most diverse countries in the world—the implications extend around the world and to other industries,” says Associate Professor Manoharan, a Young Tall Poppy of Science 2025 in South Australia.

“With some pushback against DEI, it is important we do not leave it to just the ‘true believers’ who genuinely implement DEI practices to continue to effectively promote inclusive cues at the organizational level, and in job markets.”

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