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

Marcinko, A.J.; Taylor, 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.

Citation

Marcinko, A., & Taylor, C. (2021). Employee reactions to positive action policies in the United Kingdom: Does the organization’s justification matter?. Journal of Economic Psychology, 87, Article 102453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2021.102453

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 10, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Oct 14, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Deposit Date: Nov 29, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 14, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Economic Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0167-4870
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 87
• Article Number: 102453
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2021.102453
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1220451
• Related Public URLs: https://psyarxiv.com/uqv2f/