Demographic diversity, perceived workplace discrimination and workers' well-being: context matters
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-08-2021-0179 |
| Published date | 10 May 2022 |
| Date | 10 May 2022 |
| Pages | 35-51 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
| Author | Maude Boulet,Marie Lachapelle,Sebastien Keiff |
Demographic diversity, perceived
workplace discrimination and
workers’well-being:
context matters
Maude Boulet
Direction de la recherche et de l’enseignement,
Ecole nationale d’administration publique, Montr
eal, Canada
Marie Lachapelle
Department of Management, Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales,
Montreal, Canada, and
Sebastien Keiff
Direction de la recherche et de l’enseignement,
Ecole nationale d’administration publique, Montr
eal, Canada
Abstract
Purpose –The main objective of this article is to contribute to the advancementof scientific knowledge on the
determinants of perceived workplace discrimination and its consequences on workers’well-being in Canada.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors used a representativesample of 7,706 workers aged 18 to 65
based on data from the 2016 General Social Survey of Canadians at Work and Home to conduct logistic
regression models.
Findings –Women and visible minorities are at greater risk of perceiving that they have experienced
workplace discrimination, but immigrants’perceived workplace discrimination risk is no different from that of
non-immigrants. This risk is higher in public administration than in other industries and varies between
provinces. Perceived workplace discrimination increases stress and is associated with a lower level of self-
reported mental health.
Practical implications –Since perceived discrimination has a detrimental effect on workers’well-being,
organizations should pay special attention to their employees’perceptions. Relying only on official complaints
of discrimination can lead organizations to underestimate this issue because many employees are not inclined
to file an official complaint, even if they believe they have been discriminated against.
Originality/value –The authors findings are original because they suggest that visible socio-demographic
characteristics (gender and visible minority) affect perceived workplace discrimination, which is not the case
for invisible socio-demographic characteristics (immigrant).They point out that the province of residence is an
element of the context to be considered and they indicate that workers in the public sector are more likely to
perceive discrimination than those in other industries. These empirical contributions highlight that, despite
anti-discrimination laws and government efforts to promote equity, diversity and inclusion, perceived
workplace discrimination persists in Canada, particularly among women and visible minorities and it has
tangible impacts on the workers’well-being.
Keywords Women, Immigrant, Visible minority, Perceived workplace discrimination,
Psychological health, Stress
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In recent decades, workforce demographic diversity has increased (Shore et al., 2018). In 2016,
half of the jobs were held by women, a quarter by immigrants and just over a fifth by visible
Workplace
discrimination
35
The authors would like to thank the Fonds de recherche du Qu
ebec –Soci
et
e et culture for its funding
granted for the project Towards an inclusive HRM model with high well-being in private and public
organizations in Quebec (2020-NP-266495).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2049-3983.htm
Received 26 August 2021
Revised 7 April 2022
Accepted 26 April 2022
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 11 No. 1, 2023
pp. 35-51
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2049-3983
DOI10.1108/EBHRM-08-2021-0179
minoritiesin Canada(Governmen t of Canada, 2020). Pastliterature hasshown that these groups
are at a higher risk of being discriminated against in the workplace (Banerjee et al., 2018;Bobbitt-
Zeher, 2011;Stainback et al., 2011;Zschirnt and Ruedin, 2016) and this growth in diversity
createschallengesfor organizations(Bove and Elia, 2017). In this context, providing an inclusive
work environment has become an important responsibility for organizations (Lee et al., 2021).
In addition to corporate social responsibility, promoting the well-being of the population,
gender equality, decent work and reducing inequalities are part of the Sustainable
Development Goals of the United Nations adopted by Canada (Government of Canada, 2018;
United Nations, 2016). Consequently, equity, diversity and inclusion are among the priority
issues of sustainable development in Canada. With respect to these goals, Canada is
committed to adopting an inclusive approach by integrating historically marginalized
groups, which include indigenous peoples, women, immigrant populations, people with
disabilities and people who identify with the LGBTQ2 community (Government of Canada,
2018). Therefore, studying perceived workplace discrimination and its effect on the well-
being of workers is relevant regarding these objectives.
Furthermore, Alteri (2020) examined the relationship between changes in the
representation of different groups and complaints of discrimination in the federal public
service of the United States. She found that the rising ratios of minority employees and
women led to higher rates of complaints of racial and gender discrimination. In addition,
according to Rubin and Alteri (2019), less than 1% of federal government employees filed a
discrimination complaint in the United States each year between 2006 and 2014. They also
showed that ethnicity and gender are the two motives most often invoked in discrimination
complaints. However, although effective, the focus on officially filed complaints can lead to
underestimation of the problem. By comparison, in the 2019 Public Service Employee Survey ,
8% of public servants in Canada perceived they had experienced discrimination in their job in
the past year and the most frequent source of discrimination perceived by public servants
was a person having authority over them (Government of Canada, 2020). Furthermore, Du
Mont and Forte (2016) showed that 15% of Canadians perceived to have experienced
discrimination over the past 5 years, which suggests that individuals who perceive they are
experiencing discrimination do not all report a complaint.
Lee (2022) mentioned three main reasons for focusing on perceived discrimination. First,
employees who are pressured by organizational authorities may not file a discrimination
complaint, even if they have legitimate reasons to do so, because of fear of reprisal or a lack of
confidence in the complaint system. Second, examining perceived discrimination can help
managers improve diversity management practices by addressing an underestimated
problem. Third, empirical evidence shows that perceived discrimination in the workplace has
a concrete impact on employee well-being (Lee, 2022;Triana et al., 2015).
Most research on perceived discrimination focuses on individual characteristics, such as
sex and race, as explanatory variables (Avery et al., 2008;Ayalon, 2014;McCord et al., 2018),
but some studies have shown that national context and laws can affect workers’perceived
discrimination (Dhanani et al., 2018;Triana et al., 2015). Using a meta-analysis, Triana et al.
(2019) found that the association between perceived gender discrimination and employees’
well-being is stronger in countries with labor policies that value gender equity. This finding
led them to conclude that organizations must consider the national context in organizational
decisions to prevent gender discrimination.
Based on this evidence, our study focuses on factors related to both demographic diversity
(gender, immigration status and visible minority) and the external context of organizations—
namely, Canadian province and industry. Given that the workforce is increasingly diverse
and that demographic characteristics affect perceived discrimination, we used the 2016
Canadian General Social Survey database, which is representative of the population, to
pursue our two main objectives.
EBHRM
11,1
36
To continue reading
Request your trial