Task interdependence and the discrimination of gay men and lesbians in the workplace

• Author: Raymond Nam Cam Trau,Maw‐Der Foo,Angeline Cuifang Lim
• Published date: 01 November 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21912
• Date: 01 November 2018

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Task interdependence and the discrimination of gay men and

lesbians in the workplace

Angeline Cuifang Lim

1

| Raymond Nam Cam Trau

2

| Maw-Der Foo

3

1

Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership

Centre, National University of Singapore,

Singapore

2

School of Management, RMIT University,

Melbourne, Australia

3

Department of Industrial Systems

Engineering and Management, Faculty of

Engineering, National University of Singapore,

Singapore

Correspondence

Angeline Cuifang Lim, Chua Thian Poh

Community Leadership Centre, National

University of Singapore, 1 Create Way,

CREATE Tower (Town Plaza), #02-05,

Singapore 138602

Email: angeline@nus.edu.sg

Research on occupational segregation has found that gay men and lesbians concentrate in

occupations with high task independence. This research proposed that gay men and lesbians

self-select into such occupations, as it may be easier to manage their sexual orientation if they

do not interact closely with others. We provide a complementary explanation that the high

concentration of gay men and lesbians in high-task-independent jobs may be due to bias during

the selection stage. We conducted two studies to examine (a) whether discrimination at the

point of hiring limits gay men and lesbians’access to high-task-interdependent occupations,

and (b) whether gay men and lesbians in task-interdependent jobs are less likely to be invited

to socialize by coworkers. We found that gay men and lesbians are discriminated against for

task-interdependent occupations by hiring personnel, but notably are more likely to be invited

to socialize outside of work by coworkers if they are in task-interdependent jobs. We discuss

the implications of these findings for research and practice of occupational segregation of gay

men and lesbians specifically and for other minority or stigmatized groups in general.

KEYWORDS

discrimination, gay and lesbian, occupational segregation, sexual orientation, stigma

1|INTRODUCTION

Gay men and lesbians are found in higher proportions in certain occu-

pations (e.g., Baumle, Compton, & Poston, 2009; Ellis, 1897; Tilcsik,

Anteby, & Knight, 2015). That is, they are occupationally segregated,

which is defined as the distribution of people across jobs based on

demographic characteristics, such as gender, race, and sexual orienta-

tion (Tilcsik et al., 2015). Occupational segregation has societal and

economic costs (Singh et al., 2013). At the societal level, occupational

segregation limits the opportunities that are available to members of

the target demographic group, in terms of their social and economic

prospects (England, Chassie, & McCormack, 1982; Mandel, 2013;

Reskin, 1993). At the economic level, occupational segregation

reduces the pool of talent from which organizations may draw, which

may lead to a lack of diversity within the organization (Barbulescu &

Bidwell, 2013; Bidwell, Briscoe, Fernandez-Mateo, & Sterling, 2013;

Dobbin, Sutton, Meyer, & Scott, 1993; Kalev, Dobbin, & Kelly, 2006).

Research has found that the discrimination of gay men and les-

bians results in a number of economic and psychological costs for the

marginalized group. For example, gay men and lesbians who are

unable to obtain desired employment in Indonesia often have to turn

to informal employment such as sex work, begging, salons, creative

arts and entertainment, or self-employment (Badgett, Hasenbush, &

Luhur, 2017; International Labour Office, 2016). Gay men have also

been found to earn 11% less than heterosexual men across countries

such as Australia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Sweden, the

United Kingdom, and the United States (Klawitter, 2014). Further,

discriminated gay and lesbian employees experience higher levels of

anxiety, negative attitudes, and internalized homophobia, as well as

lower levels of life satisfaction (Emir, 2014; Lau & Stotzer, 2010). At

the organizational level, discrimination of gay and lesbian employees

is also associated with higher costs (due to increased health insurance

and discrimination-related litigation fees) and lower revenues (due to

loss of sales from potential customers, drop in stock prices, and lower

productivity; Badgett, Durso, Kastanis, & Mallory, 2013). At the coun-

try level, gay and lesbian discrimination also adversely impacts

economic output and economic growth. Research across 39 countries

has found a correlation between higher levels of LGBT inclusion and

economic growth (Badgett, Nezhad, Waaldijk, & van der Meulen

Rodgers, 2014). In Australia, it has been estimated that the financial

DOI: 10.1002/hrm.21912

Hum Resour Manage. 2018;57:1385–1397. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrm © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1385