The Role of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Driving Leadership Succession: an Empirical Study with Performance Mediation and Employee Engagement

In the era of BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear, Incomprehensible), organizations face increasingly complex and rapidly changing challenges. Leadership sustainability is an important element for organizations to compete and develop their businesses sustainably. Organizations can enhance the implementation of leadership succession by creating a work environment that supports the identification and development of future leaders. This study aims to analyze the influence of diversity, equity, and inclusion on the effectiveness of leadership succession by considering the mediating roles of employee performance and engagement. The background of this research is based on the weak implementation of DEI principles in many organizations, which often results in social conflict, discrimination, and low employee participation and motivation. This study employs a non-experimental quantitative approach. Data were obtained through research instruments in the form of surveys developed from various previous studies and aimed at employees from diverse backgrounds in Indonesia, then analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques based on Partial Least Squares (PLS). The results of the study are expected to make an empirical contribution by explaining the relationship between the implementation of DEI and leadership succession through employee performance and engagement. The findings of this study are anticipated to provide input for human resource management when designing more inclusive and adaptive leadership development strategies. Additionally, this study is expected to close the gap in the literature by mapping the causal relationships among DEI variables, employee performance, employee engagement, and leadership succession in the context of organizations in Indonesia.