This paper compares how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is conceptualized and communicated in Malaysia and the United States; two multiethnic societies with divergent DEI trajectories. Drawing on 198 news articles from Yahoo! Finance (USA) and The Edge
Malaysia, published between 2021 and 2024, the research uses quantitative text analysis to examine word frequency, thematic emphasis, and discourse structure. The findings reveal a stark contrast: while US business news media frame DEI as an expansive, socially-rooted
initiative encompassing gender, race, and sexual identity, Malaysian media articulates DEI narrowly, focusing almost exclusively on gender equity within corporate leadership contexts. This divergence is partly shaped by each country’s historical and sociopolitical context—civil rights and social movements in the US versus Malaysia’s legacy of affirmative action and cautious ethnic politics. Word co-occurrence networks further underscore these differences: US discourse emphasizes individual empowerment and minority rights, while Malaysia
centers sustainability, corporate governance, and business imperatives. Notably, there is little public backlash to DEI in Malaysia, possibly due to its limited scope and alignment with corporate sustainability goals. This paper highlights how global DEI discourse is refracted through local sociopolitical filters, cautioning business leaders against universal assumptions in cross-cultural DEI strategies.