Personalized Optimal Distinctiveness: An Exploration of Dynamic Inclusion

Fostering inclusion among employees has become increasingly important to organizations in light of evidence that inclusion leads to positive outcomes for both employees and organizations. However, although organizationally driven programs and policies of inclusion are increasing, it is unclear whether these programs actually make individuals feel included. This is because inclusion literature has mainly taken a universalistic approach to inclusion, assuming that all individuals feel inclusion in the same way. To challenge this assumption, this paper explores how individualized views of inclusion may cause individuals to seek out and experience inclusion in unique ways.