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The Impact of Explanations and Demographic Group Membership: Reactions to Diversity Initiatives
Author(s) -
Richard Orlando C.,
Fubara Edward I.,
Castillo Melissa N.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2000.tb02509.x
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , psychology , perspective (graphical) , social psychology , beneficiary , competence (human resources) , perception , cultural diversity , sociology , political science , mathematics , geometry , neuroscience , anthropology , law
In a laboratory experiment, we investigated the impact of procedural explanations and demographic group membership on dependent measures of diversity program support. Our analysis took one important perspective: the examination of work‐force‐diversity programs from the perspective of multiple beneficiary (i. e., targeted) demographic groups. The experiment's design used 99 student volunteers in a 3 × 3 (Explanation × Demographic Group) factorial design. Our findings reveal that both adequate explanation and demographic group membership have a significant impact on how potential work‐forcediversity program beneficiaries expect their coworkers to perceive them. In addition, group membership was a significant predictor of potential beneficiaries' attitudes toward the diversity program and their self‐perceptions of competence. Finally, we discuss implications for future research and diversity practice.