Perceptions of Workplace Affirmative Action Plans

Little, Beverly L.; Murry, William D.; Wimbush, James C.

doi:10.1177/1059601198231003

Cited by 32 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…These data confirm, in line with several studies (e.g., Heilman, Simon, & Repper, 1987;Little et al, 1998), that affirmative action can contribute to reinforce the discrimination of targets. For example, Heilman, Block, and Stathatos (1997) showed that lower wages were proposed to a female applicant who was presented as benefiting from an affirmative action in hiring process than to a control female target.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…One way to implement diversity is to treat preferentially members of some target groups. Unfortunately, deleterious effects of preferential treatment on target's perceived competence have been repeatedly shown both when the association between the target and an affirmative action program was made explicit and when this link was only implicit (e.g., Heilman, McCullough, & Gilbert, 1996;Heilman & Welle, 2006;Little, Murry, & Wimbush, 1998;Moore, 1999;Nacoste, 1990). As a case in point, Heilman and colleagues (1992) presented a bogus female hire as being associated or not with an affirmative action program.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Ageism at Work: What Happens to Older Workers Who Benefit from Preferential Treatment?

Iweins¹,

Desmette²,

Yzerbyt

2012

PSYCHOL BELG

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In order to increase the activity rate of older workers, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recommends that national governments implement policies promoting the employment of this category of workers. However, policies that favour minority groups have been shown to produce detrimental effects such as devaluing members of these groups. In two studies, we examined whether age-related preferential treatment reinforces ageist attitudes in the workplace. A first study revealed that policies favouring 50 years old workers increased negative perceptions toward them. In a second experimental study, results indicated that, compared to a merit-based treatment, a preferential treatment increased negative perceptions, emotions, and behaviours toward an old target. As a set, our findings shed new light on ageism at work and on the role of context.In order to increase the activity rate of workers aged 50 and more, OECD governments have decided to implement public policies that promote the employment of this category of workers (e.g., by reducing wage costs for older workers) and that encourage them to stay longer in the labour force (e.g., by improving their working conditions). Clearly, older workers have become a target for employment policies. Unfortunately, research has repeatedly shown that policies that favour members of specific groups (e.g., woman or foreigners) may trigger an unanticipated set of reactions such as decreasing beneficiaries' perceived competence and reinforcing the salience of their minority status (Heilman & Welle, 2006). A similar phenomenon may be induced by employment policies that favour older workers. In other terms, we argue that employment policies that treat preferentially some workers because they are older are likely to reinforce ageism, i.e., the stigmatisation and discrimination of older workers as a group (Butler, 1969). The purpose of the present efforts is to analyse the effects of preferential treatment based on age on younger workers' attitudes towards older workers. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/pb-52-4-327 328 AGEISM AT WORK Ageism in the workplaceAgeism has consistently been reported in Western societies in general (Kite, Stockdale, Whitley, & Johnson, 2005;Nelson, 2002;Rupp, Credé, & Vodanovich, 2006) as well as in work settings (Finkelstein & Farrell, 2007;Gordon & Arvey, 2004). In general, older workers are perceived, in comparison with younger ones, as being less resistant to change (Furunes & Mykletun, 2006), less efficient in their job (Avolio & Barrett, 1987), less productive, less physically apt, lacking in creativity, slow in judgment, not interested in technology, and more difficult to train (Finkelstein & Farrell, 2007). In other words, mirroring perceptions about older people in the community at large, stereotypes about the competence of older workers come across as negative (Chiu, Chan, Snape, & Redman, 2001;Redman & Snape, 2002;Rosen & Jerdee, 1976). At the same time, some studies report more positive evaluations of older workers as bei...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ageism at Work: What Happens to Older Workers Who Benefit from Preferential Treatment?

Iweins¹,

Desmette²,

Yzerbyt

2012

PSYCHOL BELG

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“…Generally, the more discrimination a group experiences, the more positively they view affirmative action plans (Kravitz & Platania, 1993). Therefore, women traditionally have evaluated affirmative action more positively than men (Bobocel, Son Hing, Davey, Stanley, & Zanna, 1998;Kravitz & Platania, 1993;Little, Murry, & Wimbush, 1998;Ozawa, Crosby, & Crosby, 1996), and minorities (African Americans and Latinos) hold more favorable views toward affirmative action than do Caucasians (Bobocel et al, 1998;Kravitz & Platania, 1993;Little et al, 1998). It can be argued that Caucasian males tend to hold the most negative attitudes toward affirmative action because they are the least likely to be beneficiaries of affirmative action.…”

Section: Affirmative Action Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Belief in a Just World and Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action

Wilkins¹,

Wenger²

2014

Policy Studies Journal

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The effect of identity, as socially constructed by race and gender, on social policies has been widely examined in policy analysis. Policy analysis would be improved by a wider discussion that includes the influence of social-psychological constructs on social provision. We fill this gap by drawing on the theory of the "belief in a just world" and link this theory to attitudes toward the support of controversial government programs. We argue that this theory is a critical antecedent to the previous research on social construction. We hypothesize that citizens who perceive that the world is just and that opportunities are equal between groups are much less likely to favor government interventions altering market outcomes. We find that after controlling for race, sex, and political ideology, respondents who believe that luck is the primary determinant of success (low belief in a just world) are more supportive of preferential hiring programs for African Americans and women.The development of social policy is, at its foundations, an expression of beliefs about who and why people deserve help. Citizens and policymakers have long debated who is deserving and undeserving, with these debates occasionally spilling over into violent acts or repressive policies. Skocpol argues that debates over who is deserving "run like fault lines through the entire history of American social provision" (1995, p. 149). However, most scholars treat desert as peripheral to the design and development of social policy. In this paper, we fill this gap by clarifying the role of deservingness 1 and illustrating the importance of desert in policymaking. We develop a theoretical model that explains how notions of deservingness are reflected in people's beliefs about justice. In turn, these shape attitudes toward programs designed to benefit groups, which ultimately are reflected in the design, implementation, and administration of U.S. policies.

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“…Generally, the more discrimination a group experiences, the more positively the group views affirmative‐action plans (Kravitz & Platania, ). Therefore, women have traditionally evaluated affirmative action more positively than have men (Bobo, ; Kravitz & Platania, ; Little, Murry, & Wimbush, ; Ozawa, Crosby, & Crosby, ), and minorities have more favorable views toward affirmative action than do Whites (Awad, Cokley, & Ravitch, ; Bobo, ; Kravitz & Platania, ; Little et al., ). However, when the focus is on ethnic minority affirmative‐action beneficiaries (e.g., Blacks or Hispanics), White women's attitudes toward the policy tend to be more similar to those of men (Awad et al., ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research has indicated that there is a relationship between affirmative‐action attitudes and racial attitudes (Awad et al., ; Durrheim et al., ; Federico & Sidanius, ; McConahay, ; Oh, Choi, Neville, Anderson, & Landrum‐Brown, ). People high in modern racism tend to report negative attitudes toward affirmative action (Awad et al., ; Bobo, ; Little et al., ; McConahay, ). In addition, attitudes toward affirmative action are also impacted by political ideology.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Does policy name matter? The effect of framing on the evaluations of African American applicants

Awad

2013

J Applied Social Pyschol

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Affirmative action continues to be one of the most contentious policies in the U.S. The current study examined the effect of hiring policy framing on the evaluation of African American applicants. Participants (N = 204) reviewed the résumé of an African American man either hired under an affirmative‐action or a diversity‐initiative frame. Results indicated that the applicant was evaluated as more competent under the diversity‐initiative frame than the affirmative‐action frame. This was especially true for White and conservative raters. The findings suggest that shifting to an emphasis on diversity instead of affirmative action may decrease negative attitudes toward affirmative‐action beneficiaries.

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Perceptions of Workplace Affirmative Action Plans

Cited by 32 publications

References 43 publications

Ageism at Work: What Happens to Older Workers Who Benefit from Preferential Treatment?

Ageism at Work: What Happens to Older Workers Who Benefit from Preferential Treatment?

Belief in a Just World and Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action

Does policy name matter? The effect of framing on the evaluations of African American applicants

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