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201183 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.201183 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ All Rights Reserved 2025 2027-05-01T11:00:02 122 pages Doctoral Dissertation Academic theses en Martell Jackson, Natasha Buzinde, Christine Larsen, Dale Mook, Laurie Jensen, Ulrich Arizona State University Partial requirement for: Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2025 Field of study: Community Resources and Development Recognizing corporations as significant institutions influencing community outcomes and access to opportunity, the purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the role of corporations and their leaders advancing workplace inclusion in a post-2020 context. Drawing upon institutional theory, specifically the framework of institutional work, this study seeks to understand how leaders create, maintain, or disrupt institutionalized structures. The investigation is guided by two research questions: In what ways do business leaders demonstrate agency navigating structural constraints to advance inclusion within their organizations? And under what conditions can corporate leaders collectively mobilize to advance inclusion both in their organizations and in broader institutional contexts? Addressing a significant gap in literature at the intersection of diversity management, corporate social responsibility, and organizational studies, this research illuminates the nuanced factors enabling individual and collective agency to advance workplace inclusion. A case study of thirteen companies and their respective leaders explores individual, organizational, and field-level dynamics. Data gathered through qualitative interviews, process tracing questionnaires, and archival sources, analyzed the experiences of these leaders in a coalition promoting diversity and inclusion. To protect confidentiality, pseudonyms were used for all participants, companies, and the coalition. Findings highlight the interdependence of agency, structure, and power, as essential dynamics for advancing institutional work, particularly with multi-level inclusion interventions. Notably, each dynamic reveals three distinct sub-themes that further illuminate theory and praxis. For agency, the sub-themes are autonomy, resources, and collaboration. Structure encompasses communications, barriers and inequities, and coalition value. Finally, power is reflected in the sub-themes of executive buy-in and action, conflict and emotional resilience, and social position or rank. A novel understanding of autonomy surfaced as a refined aspect of agency and a crucial prerequisite to advance institutional work. Although institutional logics influence and restrict actor decisions, autonomy serves as a vital counterbalance and catalyst, facilitating how leaders create, maintain, or disrupt institutionalized structures. Organization Theory Social Research Social structure Agency Community development institutional work Power social structures workplace diversity and inclusion Agents of Change: The Role of Corporate Leaders in Advancing Inclusion - An Institutional Perspective