Employee reactions to positive action policies in the United Kingdom: Does the organization’s justification matter?

Andrew J. Marcinko and Chelsey Taylor

Journal of Economic Psychology, 2021, vol. 87, issue C

Abstract: Affirmative action remains a contentious topic in both research and practice. While advocates suggest that such action is necessary to overcome demographic imbalances in the labor market, some research shows that these policies can prompt undesirable employee reactions that negate their value. While positive discrimination (i.e., recruiting or promoting solely based on a protected characteristic) remains illegal in the United Kingdom, organizations have increasingly begun adopting positive action measures (i.e., measures aimed at alleviating disadvantage or under-representation based on protected characteristics). However, there is little research looking at how these policies specifically affect employee attitudes or how different organizational rationales for positive action might moderate these effects. This lack of research is even more notable in the UK context. In two experimental studies of UK professionals (N = 353) we find that perceived organizational justice explained the relationship between positive action and affective commitment / turnover intention. However, evidence supporting the effect of organizational rationale was limited.

Keywords: Diversity; Affirmative action; Organizational justice; Inclusion; Positive action (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 J16 J78 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:87:y:2021:i:c:s0167487021000842

DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2021.102453

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