Organizational efforts to affirm sexual diversity: a cross-level examination

A growing number of organizations have enacted policies intended to recognize and affirm sexual diversity in the workforce. This research demonstrates that the more prevalent these policies, the less likely sexual minority members are to experience treatment discrimination. Further, as expected, more equitable treatment was associated with higher levels of satisfaction and commitment among lesbian and gay employees. Treatment discrimination was also systematically related to the use of 3 identity management strategies (i.e., counterfeiting, avoiding, integrating). Findings also illustrate the importance of considering individual attributes in diversity research. In particular, group identity attitudes were associated with work-related attitudes and identity management. Overall, the research demonstrates the importance of organizational efforts to affirm sexual diversity and highlights the need for future research in this area.     

The disclosure dilemma for gay men and lesbians: "coming out" at work

This study examined disclosing sexual orientation at work for 220 gay men and 159 lesbians. Self-acceptance, the centrality of one's identity, how "out" one is to friends and family, employer policies, and perceived employer gay-supportiveness were associated with disclosure behaviors at work for gay/lesbian employees. Disclosing at work and working for an organization perceived to be more gay supportive was related to higher job satisfaction and lower job anxiety. Reactions of coworkers to gay or lesbian workers mediated the relationship between disclosure and gay/lesbian workers' job attitudes. Implications and solutions for management are discussed.     

Making the invisible visible: fear and disclosure of sexual orientation at work

Stigma theory was used to examine the fears underlying the disclosure of a gay identity at work. Using a national sample of 534 gay, lesbian, and bisexual employees, this study examined the antecedents that affect the degree of disclosure of a gay identity at work and, for those who had not disclosed, the factors that influence their fears about full disclosure. Employees reported less fear and more disclosure when they worked in a group that was perceived as supportive and sharing their stigma. Perceptions of past experience with sexual orientation discrimination were related to increased fears but to greater disclosure. For those who had not fully disclosed their stigma, the fears associated with disclosure predicted job attitudes, psychological strain, work environment, and career outcomes. However, actual disclosure was unrelated to these variables. The utility of fear of disclosure for understanding processes underlying the disclosure of gay and other invisible stigmatized identities in the workplace is discussed.     

Bringing social identity to work: the influence of manifestation and suppression on perceived discrimination, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions

In the current article, we explored whether manifesting or suppressing an identity (race/ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, or disability) at work is related to perceived discrimination, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. Participants included 211 working adults who completed an online survey. The results showed that efforts to suppress a group identity were positively (and behavioral manifestations of group identity negatively) related to perceived discrimination, which predicted job satisfaction and turnover intentions. These results suggest that diverse employees actively manage their nonwork identities while at work and that these identity management strategies have important consequences.     

Linking Biomechanical Workload and Organizational Practices to Burnout and Satisfaction

We found support for several hypotheses linking work practices to employee outcomes: reducing biomechanical workload is associated with decreased burnout via perceptions that job demands are less threatening; lower demands are associated with higher job satisfaction primarily through decreases in burnout; employers who include employees in decision making processes have employees with lower levels of burnout and higher satisfaction; and having a disability management program is associated with having employees who report less job-related burnout. This study demonstrates the importance of programs that increase perceived organizational support and the importance of job design strategies that take into account physical workload.     

Who benefits from independent careers? Employees,organizations, or both?

The traditional organizational career has been depicted as the classic example of how employers and employees can develop a mutually beneficial relationship; but changes in the competitive landscape and in individual work values have challenged its viability. Commentators have argued that a ‘new career’ deal, encapsulated by the notions of the protean and the boundaryless career, has emerged suggesting a shift in control of careers from organizations to individuals. Research has explored the implications for individuals' careers while largely neglecting consequences for organizations. Our paper seeks to remedy this by exploring both the individual and the organizational outcomes of independent career orientations and the extent to which organizations can manage these through high commitment human resource management (HRM) practices. Our study, conducted with 655 employee–supervisor dyads, indicates that a protean career orientation results in gains for both employees and organizations, whereas a boundaryless career orientation is associated with mutual losses. In addition, our findings suggest that high commitment HR practices play an important role in managing the outcomes of employees seeking traditional careers but have only a limited impact on those with a boundaryless career orientation.     

Antecedents and outcomes of organizational support for development: the critical role of career opportunities

This study examines antecedents and behavioral outcomes of employees' perceptions of organizational support for development. We first propose that employees' past participation in formal developmental activities and experience with developmental relationships positively relate to their perceptions of organizational support for development. We then propose that perceived career opportunity within the organization moderates the relationship between organizational support for development and employee performance and turnover. Using a sample of 264 exempt-level employees and their supervisors, we found that participation in training classes, leader-member exchange, and career mentoring were each positively related to employees' perceptions of organizational support for development. We also found support for the moderator hypotheses. Specifically, development support positively related to job performance, but only when perceived career opportunity within the organization was high. Further, development support was associated with reduced voluntary turnover when perceived career opportunity was high, but it was associated with increased turnover when perceived career opportunity was low. Our study demonstrates that social exchange and career motivation theory work together to explain when and how employees' perceptions of organizational support for development relate to turnover and job performance.     

Coping With a Career Plateau: An Empirical Examination of What Works and What Doesn't1

This study examines the relationships between coping responses and organizational outcomes for career‐plateaued and nonplateaued employees. The objective was to determine the efficacy of common coping responses suggested for plateaued employees. Positive activities, such as expanding job assignments, mentoring, functional or technical career paths, and projects or teams, were associated with more positive attitudes and higher perceived performance among plateaued employees. Among nonplateaued employees, there were no significant relationships found. Negative denial responses, such as blaming the supervisor or organization for the plateau, reporting intentions to leave, and use of alcohol or drugs, were associated with lower attitudes and higher career‐related strain among both plateaued and nonplateaued employees. Negative behavioral responses, such as lowering quality or quantity of work, psychological withdrawal, and lateral transfers, were associated with lower attitudes among both groups of employees and lower perceived performance among plateaued employees. Implications for managers and human resource professionals are discussed.     

Perceived Overqualification: A Multi-Source Investigation of Psychological Predisposition and Contextual Triggers

ABSTRACT. Although employee (subjective) perceived overqualification (POQ) has recently been explored as a meaningful organizational construct, further work is needed to fully understand it. We extend the theoretical psychological underpinnings of employee POQ and examine both its determinants and outcomes based on established and newly proposed theoretical developments. Four-hundred and fifteen employees completed an online questionnaire and 208 of their supervisors completed corresponding surveys about the employees’ withdrawal behaviors and job-related attitudes, in order to explore potential predictors and outcomes of subjectively experienced POQ. Among the predictors, work conditions (uniform requirements and repetitive tasks) were most strongly associated with POQ. In terms of individual differences, narcissism predicted higher POQ while general mental ability only did when holding other variables constant. In addition, among the outcomes, higher POQ was related to lower job satisfaction and organizational commitment, but was not related to withdrawal behaviors such as truancy, absenteeism, and turnover intentions.     

Unlocking the black box: exploring the link between high-performance work systems and performance

With a growing body of literature linking systems of high-performance work practices to organizational performance outcomes, recent research has pushed for examinations of the underlying mechanisms that enable this connection. In this study, based on a large sample of Welsh public-sector employees, we explored the role of several individual-level attitudinal factors--job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and psychological empowerment--as well as organizational citizenship behaviors that have the potential to provide insights into how human resource systems influence the performance of organizational units. The results support a unit-level path model, such that department-level, high-performance work system utilization is associated with enhanced levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and psychological empowerment. In turn, these attitudinal variables were found to be positively linked to enhanced organizational citizenship behaviors, which are further related to a second-order construct measuring departmental performance.     

Gay and bisexual male clients' perceptions of counseling: the role of perceived sexual orientation similarity and counselor universal-diverse orientation

A recurring question in multicultural counseling is whether client-counselor similarity on sociodemographic characteristics benefits counseling. A related issue is how counselor orientation to diversity relates to counseling process and outcome, both as a main effect and in interaction with counselor-client sociodemographic match. This cross-sectional study investigated these questions in relation to gay and bisexual male clients' counseling experiences by examining clients' perceived similarity to their counselor in sexual orientation, as well as counselors' self-reported orientation to diversity (assessed in terms of level of universal-diverse orientation [UDO]). Data were from 83 male-male client-counselor dyads recruited from lesbian/gay/bisexual-affirming counseling practices, where clients identified as gay or bisexual and counselors identified as gay, bisexual, or heterosexual. Counselor UDO was positively and uniquely associated with client ratings of the working alliance, session depth, and session smoothness. Perceived sexual orientation similarity was not directly related to any of the counseling-related criterion variables. Moreover, when counselors reported low levels of UDO, perceived similarity was negatively associated with the client-rated alliance and perceived improvement. Client religious commitment-a control variable in all analyses--was uniquely and negatively associated with client ratings of perceived improvement in counseling.     

The Role of Organizational Leaders in Sexual Orientation Equality at Organizational and Federal Levels

Purpose

This article expands the discourse of the impact of the passage of the Civil Rights Act (CRA) of 1964 to sexual orientation minorities (SOM).

Design/Methodology/Approach

We first discuss the challenges faced by SOM in the workplace. We then present a model adapted from Edelman’s “Handbook of employment discrimination research (pp. 337–352). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer (2005)” theory of endogeneity of law to discuss the impact that such leaders and their supportive organizational SOM policies can have on the passage of nationwide SOM legislation. Finally, we discuss how organizational leaders’ beliefs and actions can play a major role in affecting organizational SOM policies.

Findings

We argue that the presence of organizational protective policies can facilitate the passage of federal SOM legislation by establishing and legitimizing social norms. We also highlight how beliefs about religion, morality, controllability, and occupational stereotypes contribute to prejudice and lack of support for SOM-protective organizational policies.

Implications

We discuss the importance that organizational SOM policies have on larger societal legislative issues, and outline how specific individual-level beliefs can impact organizational-level support for SOM.

Originality/Value

We take a novel approach by focusing on what organizational leaders can do to enact SOM policies that may further influence protective laws. We also draw upon neo-institutional theory to show specifically how organizations can affect legislation; a topic often ignored in organizational psychology.     

MANAGING DIVERSITY: HOW ORGANIZATIONAL EFFORTS TO SUPPORT DIVERSITY MODERATE THE EFFECTS OF PERCEIVED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION ON AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT

Using the interactional model of cultural diversity, we examined whether the negative effects of perceived racial discrimination on affective commitment can be mitigated by perceived organizational efforts to support diversity. Across 3 studies, we found that perceptions of workplace racial discrimination are negatively related to affective commitment. In 2 out of 3 studies, this negative relationship was attenuated as employees perceived more organizational efforts to support diversity. Studies 1 (mostly Whites) and 2 (mostly Hispanics) showed that organizational efforts to support diversity attenuate the negative effects of perceived racial discrimination on affective commitment. However, in Study 3 (African Americans), results showed that when organizational efforts to support diversity are high, the negative relationship between perceived racial discrimination and affective commitment became stronger. Studies 2 and 3 also extended these results by showing that the interaction of perceived racial discrimination and organizational efforts to support diversity indirectly influences turnover intent.     

Perceived organizational support: a review of the literature

The authors reviewed more than 70 studies concerning employees' general belief that their work organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being (perceived organizational support; POS). A meta-analysis indicated that 3 major categories of beneficial treatment received by employees (i.e., fairness, supervisor support, and organizational rewards and favorable job conditions) were associated with POS. POS, in turn, was related to outcomes favorable to employees (e.g., job satisfaction, positive mood) and the organization (e.g., affective commitment, performance, and lessened withdrawal behavior). These relationships depended on processes assumed by organizational support theory: employees' belief that the organization's actions were discretionary, feeling of obligation to aid the organization, fulfillment of socioemotional needs, and performance-reward expectancies.     

Anchoring Relationships at Work: High‐Quality Mentors and Other Supportive Work Relationships as Buffers to Ambient Racial Discrimination

Applying a unifying theoretical framework of high‐quality work relationships, we conducted a set of 3 complementary studies that examined whether high‐quality mentoring relationships can buffer employees from the negative effects of ambient discrimination at work. Integrating relational mentoring with relational systems theory, we first examined whether the presence of a high‐quality mentoring relationship buffers employees in a sample of 3,813 workers. In support of the “mentors‐as‐buffers” hypothesis, we found that employees who witnessed or were aware of racial discrimination at work had lower organizational commitment than those not exposed, but employees with high‐quality mentoring relationships experienced less loss of commitment than those lacking mentors. We then examined the specific buffering behaviors used by mentors in high‐quality relationships and whether these behaviors were effective for other work relationships and outcomes. Applying Kahn's typology, we developed and validated a measure of high‐quality relational holding behaviors in a sample of 262 workers. Using this measure in a third sample of 557 workers, we found that mentors buffer by providing holding behaviors, but we did not find this buffering effect when supervisors or coworkers provided holding behaviors. This potent mentor buffering effect held across a range of outcomes, including organizational commitment, physical symptoms of stress, insomnia, and stress‐related absenteeism. These studies suggest that mentoring may be a singularly effective relationship that offers a safe harbor for employees faced with ambient discrimination at work.     

Social Interdependence and Orientation Toward Life and Work1

The relationship between social interdependence and orientation toward life and work was investigated in this study. Participants were 135 dyads of Chinese employees from 4 companies. Cooperativeness was significantly related to positive indexes of orientation toward life and work, competitiveness was related to a positive orientation toward life, and a predisposition to act individualistically was related to general measures but very few of the work‐specific measures. Coworkers' ratings indicate that cooperators were perceived as being very positive and productive employees, while competitors and individualists were perceived negatively in terms of work productivity and relationships with others. The discrepancy between self‐perceptions and perceptions of coworkers indicate that competitors especially may have a self‐beneficial delusion about the effectiveness of their behavior.     

Colorblind or colorful? How diversity approaches affect cultural majority and minority employees

We examined how perceived organizational diversity approaches (colorblindness and multiculturalism) relate to affective and productive work outcomes for cultural majority and minority employees. Using structural equation modeling on data collected in a panel study among 152 native Dutch majority and 77 non‐Western minority employees, we found that perceptions of a colorblind approach were most strongly related to work satisfaction and perceived innovation for majority members, while perceptions of a multicultural approach “worked best” for minority members. Moreover, these effects were fully mediated by the extent to which employees felt socially included in the organization. Thus, while inclusion is an important factor for both groups to enhance work outcomes, it is facilitated by different diversity approaches for majority and minority members.     

Investigating the Moderating Role of Cultural Practices on the Effect of Selection Fairness Perceptions

Utilizing a sample of applicants to positions in a global corporation, we examined whether cultural practices moderate the effect of selection fairness perceptions on organizational attractiveness and job choice. Positive relationships were anticipated between fairness perceptions and outcomes, and performance orientation and uncertainty avoidance cultural practices were hypothesized to moderate the effects of structural and information sharing perceptions, respectively. Structural fairness perceptions were positively associated with both outcomes, but information‐sharing perceptions were significantly related only to organizational attractiveness. National variability in the effect of selection fairness perceptions was observed only for the effect of structural perceptions on organizational attractiveness. Performance orientation moderated this effect such that the strongest relationship was seen among applicants from more performance‐oriented countries.     

Trust in the face of conflict: the role of managerial trustworthy behavior and organizational context

The authors explored the role of attributions in shaping employees' trust in their managers in the context of negative events. The authors examined how 2 forms of managerial trustworthy behavior (open communication and demonstrating concern for employees) and organizational policies relate to attributions, trust in the manager, and organizational citizenship behavior. Participants were 115 credit union employees who responded to a critical incident regarding a disagreement with their managers. As hypothesized, trustworthy behavior was negatively related to attributions of personal responsibility for negative encounters, and this relationship was stronger when human resource policies were perceived as unfair. Managerial trustworthy behavior was also positively related to trust in the manager and organizational citizenship behavior. Personal attributions partially mediated the relationship between trustworthy behavior and trust.     

Work-life benefits and organizational attachment: Self-interest utility and signaling theory models

This study examines two competing theoretical explanations for why work-life policies such as dependent care assistance and flexible schedules influence organizational attachment. The self-interest utility model posits that work-life policies influence organizational attachment because employee use of these policies facilitates attachment. The signaling model posits that these policies facilitate attachment indirectly through perceived organizational support. Regression analyses explored both models using a sample of 286 full time employees. Results supported both the signaling model and the self-interest utility model. For women, the availability of work-life benefits influenced organizational attachment irrespective of use, and these effects were mediated by support perceptions, consistent with the signaling model. In contrast, the self-interest model was also supported for men only. Specifically, the availability and use of flexible schedules interacted in predicting affective commitment among men such that flexible schedule availability was positively related to commitment only when use was high and negatively related to commitment when use was low. Dependent care assistance and schedule flexibility also interacted in predicting affective commitment, turnover intentions, and perceived organizational support, suggesting that the effect of policy implementation may depend on what other policies are already offered by the organization. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for theory and organizational practice.