Specific or not? - Consumer response to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in retail service settings

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have gained attention in the marketplace. The retail setting is relevant for DEI because all groups of society meet here when conducting their everyday shopping, but not all consumers are eager to embrace DEI. Marketing managers can vary the specificity of DEI initiatives, which affect the psychological distance perceived by in- or outgroups to navigate dissociative concerns of different consumer groups. We present two experiments demonstrating unspecific DEI initiative statements to directly evoke a positive consumer response. Importantly, we also present a consistent pattern of specific DEI statements to evoke a positive consumer response with the retailer indirectly through lowered psychological distance and dissociative concern. Our results provide guidance for marketers to embrace DEI initiatives to evoke positive consumer responses.