Melbourne Business School, U. of Melbourne, Australia
How to best promote genuine diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within organizations is of growing scholarly and practical interest. To address this issue, research on workplace allyship has grown extensively in the past decade. Yet, workplace allyship has been studied from a variety of perspectives, which is why our overall knowledge of this concept is fragmented. To address this issue, the proposed article provides a systematic and integrative review of empirical research on workplace allyship. First, we define and elaborate on three distinct conceptualizations of workplace allyship: (1) intentional workplace allyship by advantaged employees, (2) perceived workplace allyship by disadvantaged employees, and (3) workplace allyship as a dynamic process that emerges when an advantaged and disadvantaged employee collectively disrupt the cycle of inequality within the organizational system. Building on these three conceptualizations, we develop a conceptual model. This conceptual model serves as a structure, to systematically review existing empirical research on workplace allyship. Based on our review and synthesis, we develop an agenda for future research. Overall, our integrative review enhances conceptual clarity and presents a structured overview of the research on workplace allyship.
