Diversity Attitudes and Organizational Outcomes: Are There Group Differences

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Diversity Attitudes and Organizational Outcomes
Are There Group Differences?
Yueh-Chun (Anita) Kang Carol E.
Newell University of Memphis Navy Personnel
Research, Memphis, TN Studies
Technology Bureau of Naval
Personnel Millington, TN Presented
at the 8th Annual Navy Workforce Research and
Analysis Conference Arlington, VA 6 May 2008
The opinions expressed are those of the authors.
They are not official and do not represent the
views of the U.S. Navy Department.
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Background

• Diversity has become a necessity to maximize
  organizational effectiveness
• Global marketplace demonstrates the importance of
  diversity for organizations to compete and
  maintain leadership in the broader world economy
• War for talent now and in the future another
  key motivator for diversity focus
• Diversity advocates have theorized that
  diversity-related constructs impact bottom-line
  indicators
• Very few studies have examined this empirically

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Objective

• Assess the importance of two diversity
  constructs, Diversity Attitude and Diversity
  Climate Perceptions, on job satisfaction and
  turnover intentions
• Diversity Attitude The extent to which an
  individual supports diversity concepts and values
  differences between organizational members on
  primary and secondary traits
• Diversity Climate Perceptions An individuals
  assessment of the organizations support for
  diversity, through its organizational policies,
  culture, norms, etc.
• Determine if officer/enlisted status, gender, and
  race are covariates of Diversity Attitudes,
  Diversity Climate Perceptions, job satisfaction
  and retention intentions
• Re-analyzed 2005 Diversity Quick Poll (sponsored
  by the Navys Diversity Directorate) dataset to
  investigate these issues

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2005 Diversity Quick PollDemographics

• Poll start date March 17, 2005
• Poll end date March 25, 2005

Eligible Sample 8,800 Eligible Returns
3,066
Response Rate
35
Response rate slightly higher than DoD-wide web
survey response rates for Navy (28-29)
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Current StudyHypotheses

• Diversity Attitudes (DA) will have a positive
  relationship with Job Satisfaction (JS)
• Diversity Climate Perceptions (DCP) will have a
  positive relationship with JS
• JS will have a negative relationship with
  Turnover Intentions (TI)
• DA/DCP will have a negative relationship with TI
• DA will have a positive relationship with DCP
• JS will mediate the relationship between DA/DCP
  and turnover intentions

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Current Study Psychometric Evaluation

• 2 factors were identified for testing hypotheses
  through Exploratory Factor Analysis

Diversity Attitudes
Diversity Climate Perceptions
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Current Study Results

• Regression analysis was conducted to test the
  study hypotheses
• All hypotheses regarding direct relationships
  were supported
• Moderate to strong effect sizes were found

• Diversity Attitudes (DA) will have a positive
  relationship with Job Satisfaction (JS)
  (SUPPORTED)
• Diversity Climate Perceptions (DCP) will have a
  positive relationship with JS (SUPPORTED)
• JS will have a negative relationship with
  Turnover Intentions (TI) (SUPPORTED)
• DA/DCP will have a negative relationship with TI
  (SUPPORTED)
• DA will have a positive relationship with DCP
  (SUPPORTED)

Note. plt.05, plt.01. plt.001. (one-tail).
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Current StudyResults (Cont.)

• Mediating effects of JS were also found

H5a. Job satisfaction will mediate the
relationship between diversity attitudes and
turnover intentions. (SUPPORTED)
H5b. Job satisfaction will mediate the
relationship between diversity climate
perceptions and turnover intentions. (SUPPORTED)
Note. Baron and Kennys (1986) procedures applied
. plt.001. (one-tail).
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Follow-on Analyses Group Differences

• Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was
  conducted to test the impact of group differences
  on the model
• Officer/Enlisted status, gender and race/ethnic
  group (minority/majority), were examined as
  potential covariates of diversity attitudes,
  diversity climate perceptions, job satisfaction
  and turnover intentions

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Follow-on Analyses MANOVA Results

• Group differences were found for Officer/Enlisted
  status, gender and racial groups on the 4 primary
  variables
• Follow-up one-way analyses were conducted
• Gender differences were found for all 4 primary
  variables (DA, DCP, JS, TI)
• Officer/enlisted differences were found on 3
  variables (DA, DCP, JS)
• Racial differences were found on 2 variables (DA
  DCP)

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Follow-on Analyses MANOVA Results (Cont.)

• Interactions were found between Officer/Enlisted
  status and gender, and between Officer/Enlisted
  status and race
• Follow-up one-way analyses were conducted
• Officer/Enlisted and gender interaction found on
  2 variables (JS TI)
• Officer/Enlisted and race interaction found on
  one variable (JS)

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Follow-on Analyses Regression Analysis

• The overall model was reexamined using regression
• To control for officer/enlisted status, gender
  and race, these variables were first entered into
  previous regression equation as Independent
  Variables (IV)
• Next, Diversity Attitudes, Diversity Climate
  Perception and Job Satisfaction were individually
  entered as the fourth IV Turnover Intentions
  served as the Dependent Variable (DV)
• Similarly, Diversity Attitudes and Diversity
  Climate Perception were entered as the fourth IV
  and Job Satisfaction was the DV

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Follow-on Analyses Regression Results

• Small differences were found
• Relationships related to Diversity Attitudes
  slightly improved
• Relationships related to Diversity Climate
  Perceptions slightly declined
• Marginal decline was observed for the
  relationship between JS and TI
• In Sum, controlling for demographic variables had
  little impact on the model structure

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Summary Conclusions

• All hypotheses were supported by analyses
• Follow-on analyses revealed that group
  differences had little impact on model structure
• Diversity Attitudes and Diversity Climate
  Perceptions were found to be two, distinct
  constructs that were related to job satisfaction
  and turnover intentions
• Assessing diversity-related attitudes beneficial
  to Navy
• Continuous assessment provides benchmarks that
  can be used to assess the effectiveness of the
  Navys diversity program
• Improving Sailor diversity attitudes and
  diversity climate perceptions may be financially
  beneficial by reducing attrition

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Back-up Slides
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MANOVA Results Overall
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MANOVA Results One Way Analysis
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Follow-up Regression Model Results