Leadership diversity remains constrained despite decades of anti-discrimination legislation and diversity initiatives. While underrepresented groups comprise substantial proportions of the global workforce, their participation in senior leadership roles remains disproportionately low across gender, ethnicity, disability, and other diversity dimensions. Popular diversity interventions, such as workplace bias training, demonstrate minimal sustained behavioural change, with meta-analytic evidence revealing negligible real-world impact. This suggests that attempting to change decision-makers' conscious attitudes may be insufficient in the fact of cognitive limitations, time pressures, and organisational constraints that ultimately shape selection panel behaviour.


Choice architecture interventions offer a promising complementary approach by redesigning decision-making environments rather than attempting to modify individual cognition. These "nudges" leverage bounded rationality principles to influence decision-making while preserving decision-maker autonomy. As a result, they may be more acceptable than traditional debiasing efforts, which can be perceived as reverse discrimination and trigger majority group resistance


This scoping review systematically maps choice architecture interventions tested for increasing diversity during organisational leadership selection. Using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we analysed interventions across underrepresented groups to identify which techniques effectively reduce selection panel bias. The review employed the COM-B Model to diagnose behavioural bottlenecks and Münscher's (2016) taxonomy to categorise interventions.


Our findings reveal that structured evaluation protocols and default option modifications demonstrate most promise for reducing reliance on stereotypes, constraining discretionary decision-making and encouraging self-efficacy. Intervention effectiveness varies by target population and organisational context, suggesting that one-size-fits-all approaches are insufficient.


This review establishes the evidence base for understanding which choice architecture techniques work, for whom, and under what circumstances. By systematically mapping intervention typologies, effectiveness, and implementation considerations, we provide a structured framework for practitioners seeking to redesign leadership selection processes. We identify critical gaps requiring targeted research and propose methodological advancements for future intervention development.