Reaching and Hearing the Invisible: Organizational Research on Invisible Stigmatized Groups via Web Surveys
| Published date | 01 December 2013 |
| Author | Raymond N. C. Trau,Günter F. Härtel,Charmine E. J. Härtel |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2012.00826.x |
| Date | 01 December 2013 |
Methodology Corner
Reaching and Hearing the Invisible:
Organizational Research on Invisible
Stigmatized Groups via Web Surveys
Raymond N. C. Trau, Charmine E. J. Härtel1and Günter F. Härtel2
UWA Business School, University of Western Australia, M261, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 6009, WA,
Australia, 1University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia, and 2CSL Limited, 45 Popular Road,
Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
Corresponding author email: Raymond.Trau@uwa.edu.au
Sampling is fundamental to the credibility of any empirical investigation, and this is no
different for populations with an invisible stigma (such as sexual orientation, illness or
disability). The purpose of this paper is therefore to provide an empirical assessment of
the strengths of web surveys over hard-copy surveys in conducting research targeting
groups with an invisible stigma. Using a sample of gay men, this study demonstrates that
when employed with a broad-based recruitment strategy web surveys increase rather
than reduce sampling coverage for invisible stigmatized populations. Further, we provide
evidence that the web survey technique can yield data of comparable quality to that
obtained with a hard-copy survey. The paper concludes with strategies researchers and
organizations can adopt to overcome barriers in obtaining a diverse sample when using
web surveys and can be used by organizations as a mechanism for creating an inclusive
culture by ‘listening to the voices’ of individuals belonging to an invisible stigmatized
group.
Introduction
There is accumulated evidence indicating that
many social groups in our society are stigmatized
(Crocker and Major, 1989), prompting increased
interest from social scientists in studying these
subgroups of the population (Kock and Emrey,
2001). Stigma refers to the characteristics that
some individuals in a society possess (or are
believed to possess) which convey a social identity
that is devalued and discreditable in a particular
social context (Crocker, Major and Steele, 1998;
Goffman, 1963). Individuals whose stigmatized
characteristics are visible include people of
colour, the physically disabled, the blind, and
observable mental illnesses (Crocker and Major,
1989). Non-visible characteristics may include
those relating to religion, national origin, addic-
tions, club or social group memberships, invisible
illnesses and sexual orientation (Clair, Beatty and
MacLean, 2005). Individuals with non-visible
stigmatized characteristics are often assumed to
be members of the majority group (Goffman,
1963). Consequently, they often live with vulner-
ability and emotional stress because of a lack of
identification and contact with similar others
(Crocker and Major, 1989; Frable, Platt and
Hoey, 1998; Smart and Wegner, 2000). Conduct-
ing research on individuals with invisible stigma
characteristics has been a methodological chal-
lenge for researchers and practitioners in all
research disciplines, because many live with the
fear of disclosing their identity at work (Bell et al.,
2011; Morgan and Davidson, 2008). While there
is variability in the extent to which individuals
with an invisible stigma disclose in the workplace
context (Ragins, Singh and Cornwell, 2007),
many still face an ongoing dilemma of ‘to disclose
or not to disclose’ (Pachankis, 2007). As a result,
it raises their concern over the anonymity of their
bs_bs_banner
British Journal of Management, Vol. 24, 532–541 (2013)
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2012.00826.x
© 2012 The Author(s)
British Journal of Management © 2012 British Academy of Management. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd,
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA, 02148, USA.
To continue reading
Request your trial