National context and the transfer of transgender diversity policy: An institutional theory perspective on multinational corporation subsidiaries in Pakistan

Abstract

Deploying institutional theory to analyze the transfer of transgender diversity policy in Pakistan, our research highlights the crucial influence of national context with respect to the development and implementation of transgender-supportive equality measures in multinational corporation subsidiaries. Based on semi-structured interviews with 4 government officials, and 30 managers, HR leads, and diversity officers working in subsidiary organizations, our thematic analysis highlights how regulatory institutions, normative and cognitive institutions, and institutional distance inform the conditions of possibility for the transfer and execution of diversity policy across national boundaries. Moreover, by highlighting the inadequacy of etic understandings of diversity categories and practices in settings where social structures and ideologies can be different, we argue that utilizing an emic approach is essential in the global diversity field. Our research emphasizes the value of context-sensitive research instead of generic, and universalistic, applications of ‘Western’ diversity understandings.