A lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workplace equality policy (LGBT-WEP) helps signal and reinforce the organizational commitment to workplace equality and diversity. Prior evidence suggests that LGBT-WEP is viewed favorably by stakeholders (customers, employees, and channel partners) and influences firm performance. Drawing on stakeholder theory and the resource-based view of the firm, the authors examine whether LGBT-WEP influences customer satisfaction through marketing capability and whether demand instability dampens these associations. To alleviate endogeneity concerns of LGBT-WEP, they exploit the plausibly exogenous state-to-state variations in workplace equality policies determined by statewide laws on nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation. Empirical results indicate that LGBT-WEP positively influences customer satisfaction both directly and through enhanced marketing capability. Demand instability, however, dampens these associations. Additional analyses with alternate measures of key variables, alternate distributional assumption, and alternate model specifications yield consistent results.

中文翻译：

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LGBT 工作场所平等政策和客户满意度：营销能力和需求不稳定性的作用

女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和跨性别工作场所平等政策 (LGBT-WEP) 有助于表明和加强组织对工作场所平等和多样性的承诺。先前的证据表明，LGBT-WEP 受到利益相关者（客户、员工和渠道合作伙伴）的青睐并影响公司绩效。借鉴利益相关者理论和公司基于资源的观点，作者研究了 LGBT-WEP 是否通过营销能力影响客户满意度，以及需求不稳定性是否会抑制这些关联。为了减轻 LGBT-WEP 的内生性问题，他们利用全州关于基于性取向的非歧视法律确定的工作场所平等政策中看似外生的州与州之间的差异。实证结果表明，LGBT-WEP 直接或通过增强营销能力对客户满意度产生积极影响。然而，需求不稳定会抑制这些关联。使用关键变量的替代测量、替代分布假设和替代模型规范进行额外分析会产生一致的结果。