A Socioecological Approach to Relational Demography: How Relative Representation and Respectful Coworkers Affect Job Attitudes

Abstract

A Socioecological Approach 2 AbstractPurpose: This paper advances a socioecological perspective toward understanding the relationship between demography and job attitudes by considering the joint effects of individual ethnicity and ethnic group relative representation--the degree to which an individualÕs own demographic group is represented similarly in his or her organization and the community in which the organization is located.Design/methodology/approach: Hierarchical polynomial regression analyses of census and survey data from 57,000 employees of 142 hospitals in the United Kingdom suggest that ethnic group relative representation is related to ethnic minority employeesÕ job satisfaction and turnover intentions.Findings: An asymmetric pattern emerged wherein the effect of underrepresentation on turnover intentions was stronger than the effect of overrepresentation. Moreover, the effects of relative representation varied with respectful treatment by coworkers; relative representation had little effect on attitudes of employees who reported low levels of coworker respect but generally enhanced attitudes when respect was high. Evidence regarding the implications of ethnicity and diversity on employee attitudes is severely limited by its exclusive focus on dynamics within organizations. In this paper, we argue that efforts to understand diversity must consider not only the demography of organizations but also its alignment with the demography of the communities in which organizations operate. that employee attitudes are a function of the demographic characteristics of not only those in their immediate work environment, but also the degree to which these characteristics align with the demography of the community in which their organization is embedded, termed relative representation. More specifically, we anticipate that different evaluative judgments will emerge when an individual is an ethnic minority in their organization but not a minority in the community surrounding their organization as compared to a situation where the individualÕs ethnic group is similarly underrepresented in both contexts. We argue that ethnic group relative underrepresentation can reduce employeesÕ attitudes, particularly when people feel their coworkers treat them disrespectfully.Thus, this paper makes three primary contributions to extant scholarship. First, by pushing the boundaries of relational demography theory through the lens of socioecological psychology, we provide new ideas about the complex interplay between individual, organizational, and community demography. We provide the first evidence that ethnic minority employeesÕ attitudes are affected by the representation of their group inside the organization relative to their representation in the community in which the organization is embedded. The relative representation of oneÕs ethnic group offers an unexplored explanation for the equivocal findings of previous research that has not incorporated community demography. Second, in considering respectful interpersonal experie...

Exploring the influence of CEO and chief diversity officers' relational demography on organizational diversity management

“…Finally, in addition to increasing the proportion of underrepresented group members, it is also important to foster a climate of inclusion to achieve diversity goals (Mor Barak et al, 2016). Consistent with our model underlining the importance of high-quality relationships between senior leaders, respectful treatment among coworkers and a positive diversity climate have been identified as potential moderators of the effects of relational demography on employee work perceptions (Chattopadhyay et al, 2016;King et al, 2017). While our current theorizing focuses on the role of demographic and relational configurations of senior leaders in implementing diversity policies and increasing the numbers of underrepresented groups in organizational roles, diversity climate may also be an important factor to consider in future theorizing either as a contextual moderator or outcome of these processes.…”

Interpreting Subjective and Objective Measures of Job Resources: The Importance of Sociodemographic Context

“…This suggests that intellectual curiosity and preference for variety, for example, may not only enhance positive perceptions of job resources but also drive selection into better work environments. Although O*NET measures were designed to be independent of individual worker characteristics, these results indicate that ratings may be partly driven by selection into jobs that match individual characteristics of workers [64,79].…”

“…A practical implication of occupational sorting based on sociodemographic characteristics is that people who are like each other will find themselves in similar jobs. To exemplify, given geographic segregation, women who are K-12 teachers are likely to have other women as colleagues who share similar demographic and educational backgrounds [64]. Thus, their subjective perceptions of the resources available to them are likely to be similar to their peers.…”

The role of fairness perceptions in patient and employee health: A multilevel, multisource investigation.

“…Respondents were asked to rate the extent to which they agreed with four statements: "The people I work with treat me with respect", "The people I work with seek my opinions", "I am trusted to do my job", and "I feel I belong to a team". This was previously used by King et al, (2017). Cronbach's alpha was 0.83.…”