Recruitment initiatives aimed at increasing the gender diversity within ITEC employment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to further critique diversity management initiatives, underpinned by a “business case/best practice” rationale, drawing on a wider investigation into changing recruitment practices aimed at increasing the gender diversity within information technology, electronics and computing (ITEC) organizations.Design/methodology/approach – Based on the premise that human resource management practices are an essential lever in a diversity management approach this paper revisits organizational accounts of recruitment initiatives adopted, but presented through a more critical lens than in the initial investigation. These accounts were gathered from interviews with human resources (HR) and hiring managers in 18 organizations (12 private, and six public, sector).Findings – These refer to two specific recruitment initiatives introduced with the assumption that these would enable organizations to build a more gender diverse workforce: revisiting job requirements to make them more appea...