Are business schools creating environments where all faculty and students can thrive? That stakes the problem as both managerial, regarding school performance and talent development, and societal, regarding the leaders universities produce. We examine how faculty in Portugal's five Financial Times-ranked business schools perceive institutional climates for lesbian, gay, and trans (LGBT) people, foregrounding neo-institutional decoupling, psychological safety, and disclosure regimes as meso-level mechanisms. Because business schools model managerial norms for future leaders, faculty attitudes shape expectations for pedagogy, research, and student experience.
We analyzed 75 semi-structured interviews across disciplines and ranks using Gioia procedures. Credibility was supported via an audit trail, coder dialogue on edge cases, and reflexive statements on positionality. We theorize how policy signals translate (or fail to translate) into everyday interaction, specify difference-denying universalism as a distinct workload-shifting mechanism, and delineate an inference-driven disclosure regime that produces strategic silence.
Our analysis yields a three-dimensional structure.
(1) Policy-practice decoupling and ceremonial DEI. Inclusion policies aligned with national law signal progress outwardly yet remain weakly coupled to daily routines; "civility" functions as impression management that licenses back-stage mockery and strategic compliance.
(2) Difference-denying universalism and interactional accountability. Appeals to "blindness" equate identical treatment with equity while reallocating institutional learning costs to marginalized colleagues through uneven "diversity work."
(3) Heteronormative disclosure norms. Heterosexuality and cisgenderism structure visibility: LGB status is inferred from topics, self-presentation, or social cues, whereas heterosexuality is presumed via openly shared family status. Heightened legibility amplifies reputational risk, prompting self-monitoring and strategic silence.
Consistent with evidence on psychological safety and accountability, departments should translate policy into enforceable interaction norms, assign climate responsibility to middle leadership, and formalize fair service rotation/recognition to curb presentation policing and strengthen everyday belonging. Findings reflect Portugal's business-school sector; transferability to comparable higher-education settings will be discussed.