Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Although the “business case for diversity” advocates have been numerous since the beginning of the 1990s (among them, we find scholars such as Cox & Blake, 1991; Ellis & Sonnenfeld, 1994; Thomas, 1990; Thompson & DiTomaso, 1988), the challenges faced by Muslims in workplaces located outside Muslim-majority countries have scarcely been the object of in-depth research before 9/11 in English language management journals (Bouma, Haidar, Nyland, & Smith, 2003). More than often, this collective religious identity was lumped with other discrete dimensions of personal diversity, such as culture, ethnicity or race (King, Bell, & Lawrence, 2009). Conversely, 2003 marks the beginning of abundant literature covering not only the discrimination and hardships experienced by Muslims in their workplaces (especially the multiple barriers they face), but also the various challenges that businesses encounter in their attempt to adapt themselves to the needs of this population. This meta-analysis aims at exploring the state of that literature (what we know) and opening new research paths (what we need to know). Drawing on a preliminary sample of 30 articles published from 2001 to 2020 in well-known peer reviewed management journals, this paper will explore three questions: (1) What makes Muslims’ inclusion at work problematic? (2) How do Muslim workers cope with the various forms of hardship they experiment? (3) Which practices are more appropriate to foster their inclusion? Using a thematic content analysis, this is done by contrasting what the literature tells us about the perspectives of Muslims and those of their non-Muslim colleagues.