Inclusion in CSR Reports: The Lens from a Data-Driven Machine Learning Model

Inclusion, as one of the foundations in the diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative, concerns the degree of being treated as an ingroup member in a workplace. Despite of its importance in a corporate’s ecosystem, the inclusion strategies and its performance are not adequately addressed in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and CSR reporting. This study proposes a machine learning and big data-based model to examine inclusion through the use of stereotype content in actual language use. The distribution of the stereotype content in general corpora of a given society is utilized as a baseline, with which texts about corporate texts are compared. This study not only propose a model to identify and classify inclusion in language use, but also provides insights to measure and track progress by including inclusion in CSR reports as a strategy to build an inclusive corporate team.