Fitting In - A qualitative study about how social identity affects the extent to which Swedish students feel inclusiveness at university

Sammanfattning: At a point in time when diversity management is trending, organizations across the globe are trying to recruit more diverse people. However, in order to truly be able to take advantage of diverse recruits, the academic debate emphasizes that organizations must also focus on making these new recruits feel included. This dissertation zooms in on how social identity affects inclusiveness. The thesis contributes to the academic discussion by including stereotypes as a factor that hinders different social identities from feeling inclusiveness in an organization. Through an abductive research strategy, in-depth interviews are conducted with ten students at the Stockholm School of Economics. The findings imply that low and middle-income students, Afro-Swedes, older people, and hipsters feel a decreased sense of inclusion at the Stockholm School of Economics, because their norms and values clash with those of the stereotypical student. However, the thesis also finds that these social identities start to feel more included with time. The thesis is relevant for organization studies and practitioners alike, since it shows that actions and mission statements are not enough in order to create an inclusive environment, rather stereotypes and other non-representative norms must also change.