MANAGING DIVERSITY: HOW ORGANIZATIONAL EFFORTS TO SUPPORT DIVERSITY MODERATE THE EFFECTS OF PERCEIVED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION ON AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT
The authors would like to thank Alexander Stajkovic, Barry Gerhart, Charlie Trevor, Larry Hunter, and Murray Barrick for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. Funding for this project was provided, in part, by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Part of the data presented in this manuscript were collected while the second author was a postdoctoral fellow at Texas A&M University.
Abstract
Using the interactional model of cultural diversity, we examined whether the negative effects of perceived racial discrimination on affective commitment can be mitigated by perceived organizational efforts to support diversity. Across 3 studies, we found that perceptions of workplace racial discrimination are negatively related to affective commitment. In 2 out of 3 studies, this negative relationship was attenuated as employees perceived more organizational efforts to support diversity. Studies 1 (mostly Whites) and 2 (mostly Hispanics) showed that organizational efforts to support diversity attenuate the negative effects of perceived racial discrimination on affective commitment. However, in Study 3 (African Americans), results showed that when organizational efforts to support diversity are high, the negative relationship between perceived racial discrimination and affective commitment became stronger. Studies 2 and 3 also extended these results by showing that the interaction of perceived racial discrimination and organizational efforts to support diversity indirectly influences turnover intent.
