Workplace discrimination: A meta‐analytic extension, critique, and future research agenda

Abstract

Despite a large and growing literature on workplace discrimination, there has been a myopic focus on the direct relationships between discrimination and a common set of outcomes. The aim of this meta‐analytic review was both to challenge and advance current understanding of workplace discrimination and its associations with outcomes by identifying the pathways through which discrimination affects outcomes, examining boundary conditions to explain when discrimination is most harmful for employees, and exploring a potential third variable explanation for discrimination–outcome relationships. Mediation tests indicated that workplace discrimination is associated with employee outcomes through both job stress and justice. Moderator analyses showed that discrimination appears to be most detrimental when it is observed rather than personally experienced, interpersonal rather than formal, and measured broadly rather than specifically. We also found that discrimination–outcome relationships differ across work and nonwork contexts and as a function of the social identity targeted by discrimination. Discrimination generally explained meaningful incremental variance in outcomes after controlling for the effects of negative affectivity, but the relationships between discrimination and health were substantially decreased. We conclude by offering a constructive critique of the empirical discrimination literature and by detailing an agenda for future research.

Does Reducing Male Domination in Teams Attenuate or Intensify the Harmful Effects of Perceived Discrimination on Women's Job Satisfaction? A Test of Competing Hypotheses

“…As such, future research should examine the extent to which an organisation's past history of diversity and inclusion plays a role in explaining the positive and potentially negative consequences of increasing gender diversity in teams. Overall, the present study answers recent calls for more research on boundary conditions governing the links between perceived discrimination and employee outcomes (Dhanani et al, ) and, in particular, how contextual factors might moderate these links (Triana et al, ).…”

“…Taken together, although previous studies have examined certain individual factors (e.g., coping style, Goldman, Gutek, Stein, & Lewis, ) that serve to moderate the relation between perceived discrimination and employee outcomes, there is little empirical research on contextual, team‐related factors that may influence these links (Triana et al, ; Meyer, in press). Moreover, we also answer Dhanani et al's () call for more nuanced investigations that help to explain when perceptions of discrimination are more or less harmful. Because prior studies suffer from a “myopic” focus on the direct links between perceived discrimination and outcomes, asking more nuanced questions about these relations is critical to advancing existing theory and research (Dhanani et al, ).…”

“…Consistent with the extant literature, we define perceived discrimination as an “employee or job applicant's perception of unfair or negative treatment based on membership in a particular social group” (Chung, , p. 34). We focus on perceived (vs. objective) discrimination given discriminatory behaviours or events at work arguably only have the potential to impact employee outcomes when individuals are aware of them (Dhanani, Beus, & Joseph, ) . Moreover, our decision to focus on job satisfaction as an outcome variable is based on previous research that consistently links perceived discrimination to lower job satisfaction (see Dhanani et al, and Jones, Peddie, Gilrane, King, & Gray, for recent meta‐analyses), which, in turn, is related to a number of important workplace outcomes, including task performance (Petty, McGee, & Cavender, ), citizenship behaviour (Organ & Ryan, ), turnover (Cotton & Tuttle, ), and financial profits at the organisational level (Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, ).…”

Reinvigorating Research on Gender in the Workplace Using a Positive Work and Organizations Perspective*

“…In contrast with traditional research that focuses on women's stress and poor physical and mental health (as key outcomes of discrimination; Dhanani et al . ), a PWO approach inquires how women can experience well‐being. Well‐being seems to manifest at the confluence of supportive cultures, individual attitudes, and supportive mentors and peers.…”

“…Attention to women's well-being and quality of (work) life, by definition, has the strongest alignment with positive psychology, which is also known as the science of well-being . In contrast with traditional research that focuses on women's stress and poor physical and mental health (as key outcomes of discrimination; Dhanani et al 2018), a PWO approach inquires how women can experience well-being. Well-being seems to manifest at the confluence of supportive cultures, individual attitudes, and supportive mentors and peers.…”