It’s all in the frame: Framing diversity policies to reduce attitudinal resistance towards gender quota and their beneficiaries.

To address the systematic underrepresentation of women in top leadership positions, governments are introducing gender quotas (GQ). Despite their effectiveness, GQ are controversial and generally perceived negatively. With three experimental studies and a Free Association Task, I aim to design strategic frames of communication that organizations can use to reduce attitudinal resistance of GQ. The proposed research addresses the challenge of communicating GQ in a positive way for all employees and contributes to the social sciences by investigating how policy information should be framed to influence public perceptions. Lastly, it informs practitioners about the best ways to implement GQ.