The Impact of Discriminatory Climate Perceptions on the Composition of Intraorganizational Developmental Networks, Psychosocial Support, and Job and Career Attitudes of Employees with an Invisible Stigma

• Published date: 01 March 2015
• Author: Raymond N. C. Trau
• Date: 01 March 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21630

Human Resource Management, March–April 2015, Vol. 54, No. 2. Pp. 345–366

© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21630

Correspondence to: Raymond N. C. Trau, School of Management, RMIT University, 445 Swanston Street,

Melbourne Victoria 3001, Australia, Phone: +61 3 9925 5516, Fax: +61 3 9925 5952,

E-mail: raymond.trau@rmit.edu.au.

THE IMPACT OF DISCRIMINATORY

CLIMATE PERCEPTIONS

ON THE COMPOSITION

OFINTRAORGANIZATIONAL

DEVELOPMENTAL NETWORKS,

PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT, AND

JOB AND CAREER ATTITUDES

OFEMPLOYEES WITH AN

INVISIBLE STIGMA

RAYMOND N. C. TRAU

Recent diversity research recognizes that employees’ social identity and per-

ceptions of diversity openness and support shape their career experience

and decisions. To build further on this line of work, this study aims to advance

an understanding of the impact of discriminatory climate perceptions on the

social relationships at work and work-related attitudes of employees with an

invisible stigma. To achieve this purpose and test hypotheses, professional

lesbians and gay men were selected as a representative group of the invisible

stigmatized population. This study found that perceptions of nondiscrimina-

tory climate toward an individual’s invisible stigmatized group is positi vely

related to her/his formation of a similar developmental network, and those

who perceived nondiscriminatory climate in their organization are more like-

ly to disclose stigmatized identity and receive higher psychosocial support

from their developmental network. Further, psychosocial support was found

to be positively related to job and career satisfaction. Theoretical and practi-

cal implications on workplace stigmatization, developmental network, and

workplace diversity are discussed. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: developmental network, discriminatory climate, sexual orientation,

stigma

346 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, MARCH–APRIL 2015

Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

Researchers have

proposed and found

that the perceptions

of organizational

climate such as

discriminatory

environments matter

to employees with

an invisible stigma

to the extent that

they influence their

identity management

and career

trajectory.

Wilson, 2008; King, Hebl, George, & Matusik,

2010).

While examining perceived workplace

discrimination is an important issue for both

employees and employers, an important

factor still overlooked in human resources

management and organization research is

social relationships at work. It is important

to examine these potential linkages because

social relationships and networks underpin

human and social capitals, which shape a

range of perspectives, knowledge, and tasks

in the organization (Bacharach, Bamberger,

& Vashdi, 2005; Casciaro & Lobo, 2008)

as well as impacting on the perceptions of

organizational support (Hayton, Carnabuci,

& Eisenberger, 2012), emotional well-being

(Gersick, Bartunek, & Dutton, 2000), and

physical health of employees (James, Lovato,

& Khoo, 1994).

Understanding whether discriminatory

climate perceptions affect social relation-

ships and the subsequent work-related out-

comes of disadvantaged groups is particularly

important for both theory and practice in

human resource management for a number

of reasons. First, research that has adopted

social identity perspectives suggests that

identity-relevant environmental cues (e.g.,

pro-diversity policies) trigger work-related

identity information (Ashforth & Johnson,

2001) and nonwork-related information

(Chattopadhyay, George, & Lawrence, 2004),

which in turn increase the salience of mem-

bership for disadvantaged groups in organiza-

tions (Hogg & Terry, 2000; Ramarajan & Reid,

2013). This is particularly prevalent when

the environmental cues trigger a threat to

their social identity (Petriglieri, 2011), which

may in turn affect their identity manage-

ment and strategies for interaction with col-

leagues in their organization. The subsequent

outcomes include self-disclosure to cowork-

ers (Button, 2001; Clair etal., 2005; Phillips,

Rothbard, & Dumas, 2009), and differential

treatment toward similar others (which is

often referred to as in-groups) relative to dis-

similar others or out-groups (Chattopadhyay

etal., 2004; DiTomaso, Post, Smith, Farris, &

Cordero, 2007; Ely, 1994). Second, mentoring

and social network research has investigated

Organizations have historically dis-

couraged people from making

their social identities evident in

the workplace (Huffman, Watrous-

Rodriguez, & King, 2008). However,

an emerging perspective in recent years is that

organizations can better learn and grow if

their employees are encouraged to be their

authentic selves (Tatli, 2011). Yet the com-

plex process of integrating and managing

the “nonwork” aspects at work is largely

uncharted territory for many employees

and organizations, which begets a variety of

important implications for both

individuals and their organiza-

tions (Clair, Beatty, & MacLean,

2005; Özbilgin, Beauregard, Tatli,

& Bell, 2011; Ragins, 2008; Ragins,

Gonzalez, Ehrhardt, & Singh,

2012; Ramarajan & Reid, 2013).

Nevertheless, little research atten-

tion has been given to such pro-

cesses, particularly the complexity

of stigma and stigmatization, and

the extent to which individuals

interpret, manage, and respond

to their invisible and stigmatizing

identities at work. Indeed, organi-

zational researchers have recently

called for more theories on the

organizational life of stigmatized

groups as well as on the causes

and consequences of stigmatiza-

tion processes in organizations

(Paetzold, Dipboye, & Elsbach,

2008; Pichler, 2007; Ragins, 2004).

In this stream of research, research-

ers have proposed and found that

the perceptions of organizational

climate such as discriminatory environments

matter to employees with an invisible stigma

to the extent that they influence their iden-

tity management and career trajectory. In

the broader stream of research on workplace

diversity, studies focusing on the work experi-

ences of ethnic minorities and women have

shown that the perceptions of being discrimi-

nated against on the basis of their gender

or ethnic identity affects the work-related

attitudes of employees belonging to these

demographic categories (see Avery, McKay, &