Tidbits

Avoiding toxic environments

Establishing a trusting and respectful working space - some considerations.

These articles consider aspects in enabling the establishment of a fair and respectful working space.

A Pyramid of Hate Perspective on Religious Bias, Discrimination and Violence

This study provides a ‘pyramid of hate’ perspective on issues and challenges facing minority religious communities in social and political climates that bestow permission to hate. Previous research shows that adverse social stereotypes and biases, together with non-inclusive policies and practices at the level of the state, create an enabling environment that signals the legitimacy of public hostility towards a minority community.

This paper argues that such climates of hate within and outside the workplace may be better understood by paying attention to the multiple levels of hate, i.e., biased attitudes, biased actions, discrimination and violence. In its extreme form, such climate may lead to indiscriminate massacres and genocide. This contextual study draws on interviews with 76 Shia Muslim professionals and employees in Pakistan to provide a ‘pyramid of hate’ perspective on issues of bias, discrimination and violence facing them.

The study unveils a range of experiences, from subtle bias and stereotyping to blatant harassment, discrimination and hostilities facing Shia professionals and employees in Pakistan. The study is unique as it integrates the notion of pyramid of hate into management and organization studies and advances this theory by examining issues of sect-based bias, discrimination and violence within one religion.

Jawad Syed & Faiza Ali. 2021. A Pyramid of Hate Perspective on Religious Bias, Discrimination and Violence.

Justice Climate and Workgroup Outcomes: The Role of Coworker Fair Behavior and Workgroup Structure

Research on justice climate demonstrates a consistent effect on workgroup outcomes such as job satisfaction, commitment, and performance. However, little research considers how justice climate affects these outcomes and when the relationship is stronger or weaker. In an effort to extend the literature on justice climate, we draw on research on other types of organizational climate to suggest justice climate influences the fair behavior of coworkers.

Specifically, we propose fair coworker behavior mediates the relationship between justice climate and outcomes. Further, we examine the influence of workgroup structure on this mediated relationship. We examine these relationships in two studies and find support for the mediating effect of fair coworker behavior and the proposed moderated mediation model. Implications of these results for justice and climate research are considered.

Maureen L. Ambrose, Darryl B. Rice & David M. Mayer. 2021. Justice Climate and Workgroup Outcomes: The Role of Coworker Fair Behavior and Workgroup Structure.

Behavioral Integrity: Examining the Effects of Trust Velocity and Psychological Contract Breach

Leader behavioral integrity (BI) is central to perceived credibility and thus to leaders’ effectiveness at fostering ethical and other climates. Our research broadens the theoretical foundation for BI research by integrating the cognitive–attributional role of trust in the formation and maintenance of leader BI perceptions. Guided by recent research on trust primacy and prior theories of fairness used to examine ethical behavior, we examine how perceptions of leader BI can be either diminished or maintained through trust velocity following a psychological contract breach.

Using a field and an experimental study, we explore the manner in which followers perceive leader’s actions when conflicting interests lead to unfulfilled promises. We found that trust velocity mediates the relationship between a psychological contract breach and leader BI (study 1), and that informational justice moderates this relationship (study 2), suggesting that leaders can attenuate the impact of broken promises on ascribed BI. Our findings offer a pathway for leaders operating in dynamic contexts to preserve BI and also help address concerns that have been raised about the behavioral integrity construct regarding its conceptual overlap with related constructs such as trust, psychological contracts, and informational justice.

Gretchen R. Vogelgesang et al. 2021. Behavioral Integrity: Examining the Effects of Trust Velocity and Psychological Contract Breach.