Exam ining the R elationship betw een
EqualO pportunity C lim ate and
Individual-LevelO utcom e Variables
Elizabeth Steinhauser
Marinus van Driel
Mitchell Henry Peterson
Daniel McDonald
Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute
9-Jul-10
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History
ƒ President Truman signed into effect the
Executive Order 9981 in 1948
ƒ This abolished segregation in the U.S. military
ƒ Defense Race Relations Institute was founded
in 1971 in response to racial unrest in the
Vietnam War
ƒ Defense Equal Opportunity Institute (DEOMI)
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Outline
ƒ Background Literature
ƒ Diversity Climate
ƒ Equal Opportunity (EO) Climate
ƒ Current Study
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Objectives
Hypotheses
Results
Conclusion
Diversity Climate
ƒ “Diversity climate is employees’ shared
perceptions of the degree to which a firm is
thought to utilize fair employment policies
and socially integrate underrepresented
employees into the work setting.”(McKay,
Avery, & Morris, 2009, p.768)
Equal Opportunity (EO) Climate
ƒ EO climate can be defined as “employees’
perceptions of the degree to which
discrimination and harassment are likely to
occur within their work unit” (Walsh,
Matthews, Tuller, Parks, & McDonald, 2010, p.
192)
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Comparison of Diversity & EO
Climate
ƒ EO climate is often researched in terms of
perceptions of demographic diversity, policy
and/or fairness.
ƒ Diversity climate is strategic in focus and
reflects perceptions of initiatives aimed at
capitalizing on the strengths of employing a
demographically diverse workforce.
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Why care about diversity and EO climate?
ƒ
Affective outcomes
ƒ Organizational commitment, job satisfaction,
career commitment, satisfaction with
manager, career satisfaction, & career future
satisfaction (Hickes-Clarke & Iles, 2000)
ƒ
Achievement outcomes
ƒ Turnover intentions (e.g., McKay et al., 2007)
ƒ Team processes & outcomes (e.g., Raver &
Gelfard, 2005)
Current Study
ƒ
Leveraging extant diversity climate theory as well
as previous research findings in terms of EO
climate (e.g., McIntyre et al., 2002), it is possible
to argue that EO climate, when aggregated to the
organizational level, should relate to individual
level work outcomes.
ƒ
The individual work outcomes of interest in the
current study include: organizational commitment,
organizational trust, & job satisfaction.
Hypotheses
ƒ Hypothesis 1: EO climate, measured as an
organization level construct, is positively
related to individual level work related
outcomes.
ƒ Hypothesis 2: Each EO climate variable will be
positively and uniquely related to individual
level work related outcomes.
Assessment of EO Climate
ƒ Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute Equal
Opportunity Climate Survey (DEOCS)
ƒ EO Climate Scales:
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Perceptions of Sexual Harassment and Sex Discrimination
Differential Command Behavior
Positive Equal Opportunity Behaviors
Racist Behaviors
Religious Discrimination
Overall EO Climate
ƒ Individual Level Outcome Variables:
ƒ Organizational Commitment
ƒ Organizational Trust
ƒ Job Satisfaction
Sample
ƒ N = 461,666
ƒ 7,844 groups with an average size of 59 group
members
ƒ 81% Males
ƒ 68% White, 15% African American, 13%
Hispanic
ƒ Most were between the ages of 22-30
Analytic Strategy
•
Assessing Method Bias
• Principle Components Analysis
• Confirmatory Factor Analysis
•
Appropriateness of Aggregating EO Climate
• awg > .70
• ICC (1) = .08
• ICC(2) = .94
Analytic Strategy
ƒ Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM)
ƒ The individual level (level-1) variables included:
organizational commitment, organizational trust,
and job satisfaction.
ƒ The organization level (level-2) variables included:
overall EO climate, racist behavior climate,
positive EO behavior climate, differential
command behavior climate, sexual harassment
climate, and religious discrimination climate.
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Results
ƒ Null models
ƒ 19% of variance in organizational commitment lies
between organizations
ƒ 16% of variance in organizational trust lies
between organizations
ƒ 9% of the variance in job satisfaction lies between
organizations
ƒ This means that our level-2 predictor (EO
climate) could potentially explain some of this
between-group variance.
Results
ƒ Hypothesis 1
ƒ All EO climate variables were significantly related
to better individual work outcomes.
ƒ Overall EO Climate, Racist Climate, and Sexual
Harassment Climate accounted for the most variance
in individual work outcomes
ƒ Each accounted for 5 to 6% of the between-group variance
in the individual work outcomes.
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Results
ƒ Hypothesis 2
ƒ In combination, climate variables accounted for
7.6% of the variance in organizational
commitment, 7.1% in organizational trust, & 7.2%
in job satisfaction
ƒ All EO climate variables significantly predicted
better individual work outcomes with the
exception of religious discrimination climate
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Gamma Coefficients (H2)
O rganizationalcom m itm ent
O rganizationaltrust
Job satisfaction
Racistbehaviorclim ate,γ01
.09**
.06**
.04**
Positive EO behaviorclim ate,
γ01
.02**
.02**
.01**
D ifferentialcom m and behavior
clim ate,γ01
.07**
.07**
.02**
Sexualharassm entclim ate,γ01
.04**
.07**
.03**
Religious D iscrim ination
clim ate,γ01
-.03**
-.03*
.00
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Conclusions
ƒ EO climate is important as it can affect
individuals' job satisfaction, organizational
commitment, and trust in their organizations.
ƒ Therefore, it is critical to manage EO climate
to ensure organizations function well and
employees are satisfied with their work,
remain committed and have trust in their
organizations.
Questions?
Elizabeth Steinhauser
[email protected]
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