Emerging Strategic Human Resource Challenges in Managing Accent Discrimination and Ethnic Diversity

The authors examine accent discrimination as an emerging dimension of responsible human resource management of ethnic diversity. They address four factors: first, differential social acceptability of accents exacerbated by immigration patterns; second, a review of U.S. case law on accent discrimination; third, the Xieng case and the emerging U.S. accent discrimination policy that respects ethnic diversity; and fourth the moral justifications and global applicability of the emerging U.S. accent discrimination policy. Their findings will help global managers recognize and overcome accent discrimination biases that adversely impact world-class competitiveness.