Related: How you can proactively address gender pay inequity

"One theory for the positivity? Lagging diversity has played large in the news of late, and the media spotlight may be signaling to workers that companies are growing more aware of the need to step up their efforts to employ a more varied set of employees," the authors write.

Tech companies over the past few years have been ramping up their diversity recruitment and hiring efforts, as well as has instituting formal processes and best practices such as issuing annual diversity reports.

Companies also have to do more to retain diverse workers, according to the report, which emphasizes that it's best when everyone within an organization takes responsibility for inclusion — with the tone set from the top.

Executives placed more emphasis on individual workers for setting tone and agenda around diversity, with 35 percent of them saying individuals shoulder primary responsibility. That compares with just 12 percent of middle managers and 9 percent of staff who believe the buck stops with individual workers.

"While this might seem self-serving on the part of executive level managers looking to avoid sole accountability for diversity efforts, it's also smart policy," the authors write. "Cliché as it sounds, building and fostering diversity in the workplace takes a village. Recruiting from a diverse talent pool is just a first step; creating an inclusive, non-hostile and fair environment that will retain minority workers and see them flourish is just as important."

Other key survey findings include:

• Two-thirds of women in high tech say they would leave their job if the discovered pay imbalances among employees doing equal work, compared to 44 percent of men who said the same.

• Asked if women and men are naturally inclined to succeed in roles that amplify their gender traits, nearly half of respondents agreed. But among executives and senior managers, 61 percent agreed with the statement, compared with 46 percent of middle managers and 22 percent of staff-level workers. One possible reason so many executive level respondents believe women and men succeed more in roles that play to gender traits is that the vast majority of senior managers in the high-tech industry are men.

• Sixty-four percent of respondents said they agree that an organization with a heterogeneous employee base is more likely to produce world-class innovation than one that is largely homogeneous in makeup. Another 28 percent at least partially agree with that premise, while just 9 percent disagree.

To promote greater diversity with the technology industry, CompTIA has established two communities, on Advancing Diversity in Technology and Advancing Women in Technology. More than 2,800 individuals are active in the two communities.