Jorge A. Gonzalez

Diversity Change in Organizations: A Systemic, Multilevel, and Nonlinear Process

Diversity change in organizations is described as a systemic, multilevel, and nonlinear process. Its systemic nature highlights the role of the environment and suggests a holistic approach to diversity change incorporating demographic and diversity-related cultural and political change. Multilevel issues illustrate the importance of configuration effects. Also, the nonlinear nature of diversity change shows its path dependency and its potential to spiral up or down across recurrent cycles. An integration of these three characteristics suggests that diversity change leads to the emergence of positive outcomes and unintended adverse side effects, which can cause it to gain upward or downward momentum or lead to inertia. These include intergroup relations outcomes (segregation, marginalization, assimilation, and integration), reactions to diversity change (resistance, cynicism, apathy, and commitment), and communication outcomes (silence and destructive or constructive voice). Implications for the study and management of sustainable diversity change in organizations are discussed.

Image and similarity: an identity orientation perspective to organizational identification

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of perceived external image and similarity in values, beliefs and interests with an organizations leaders and other members on organizational identification.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents results of a field survey research in two non‐work organizational contexts, a professional association, and a college business fraternity. Hypotheses were tested with ordinary least squares regression and mediation analyses.Findings – Perceived external image and perceived similarity with the organizations leaders and other members influence organizational identification. Perceived similarity partially mediates the relationship between external image and identification.Research limitations/implications – The study implements a cross‐sectional design and relies on self‐reports. The results have important implications for organizational identification and related behaviors both in work and non‐work contexts.Practical implications – The study pre...

Demographic dissimilarity, value congruence, and workplace attachment

Purpose – Relying on relational demography and person-organization fit perspectives, the purpose of this paper is to explore the interactive effect of demographic dissimilarity and value congruence on workplace attachment outcomes – affective and normative organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Based on optimal distinctiveness theory, asymmetrical effects across gender and race/ethnicity are also examined. Design/methodology/approach – A diverse sample of 278 restaurant workers in 30 different work units is used to test the hypotheses using hierarchical OLS regression. Findings – The results partially support the idea that perceived and objective value congruence moderate the relationship of race/ethnic and gender dissimilarity on workplace attachment. Tests for asymmetrical demographic group effects showed that value congruence had a stronger moderating effect for whites than for people of color, and for men than for women. Research limitations/implications – The results suggest that value co...

If You Can’t Take the Heat: Cultural Beliefs about Questionable Conduct, Stigma, Punishment, and Withdrawal among Mexican Police Officers

We introduce the concept of cultural beliefs about questionable conduct, and examine how these beliefs interact with stigma consciousness to influence punishment and two withdrawal behaviors: turnover and absenteeism. We used a sample of Mexican police officers in a border city and implemented a mixed method design, paying attention to the national, occupational, and organizational context of this setting. We conducted a qualitative phase to explore the prevalence and meaning of occupational stigma and four cultural beliefs about questionable conduct: greed, toughness, wariness, and savvy. The results of this phase helped us develop a context-relevant measure of cultural beliefs about questionable conduct using Mexican proverbs. The results of the quantitative phase indicated that, contingent upon stigma consciousness, beliefs about questionable conduct affected received punishment, turnover, and absenteeism. We discuss the theoretical and behavioral implications of our findings for socialization, identity management, occupational stigma, corruption, and ethical behavior.

Matchmaking: community and business unit racial/ethnic diversity and business unit performance

Past studies examining how the match between organization and community racial/ethnic proportions influences performance have relied on the social categorization perspective on diversity, but have not offered strong significant results. However, the information and decision-making perspective on diversity suggests that organizational diversity fit based on variety, rather than a match of demographic proportions, leads to greater performance. This study considered both perspectives to test how both racial/ethnic proportions matching and diversity fit influence business unit financial performance. This was tested on a sample of 51 business units of a restaurant chain in the USA. The results show that business unit diversity was associated with higher performance in diverse communities but not in homogeneous communities. This suggests that racial/ethnic diversity is a valuable human resource conducive to greater performance but this is contingent upon community diversity. Implications for organizational diversity research and human resource management are discussed.

Relational Demography Between Managers and Stakeholders and Business Unit Performance

This study explores the influence of demographic similarity between business unit managers and their internal and external stakeholders—line employees and residents of the community being served—on financial performance. A sample of 52 business units of a service industry organization totaling 254 managers and 2,935 employees was used. The study relies on the social categorization and information/decision-making perspectives on diversity, which suggest that managerial demographic similarity to firm stakeholders is related to greater expertise to access diverse markets and networks and management in a diverse environment. Implications for research and for organizational leadership diversity are addressed.

Job flexibility and job satisfaction among Mexican professionals: a socio-cultural explanation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study how job flexibility influences job satisfaction among Mexican professionals, and focus on the role of key socio-cultural moderators relevant to Mexican society. Design/methodology/approach The paper explore how this relationship may be more important for women, employees with dependents such as children and elder parents and younger generations of professionals (e.g. Millennials). Findings The authors find that job flexibility is positively related to job satisfaction. This relationship is stronger for employees without dependents, as well as for younger generations of professionals (e.g. Millennials). Surprisingly, the relationship between job flexibility and job satisfaction does not differ by gender. The findings explain why job flexibility is more conductive to job satisfaction for employees without dependents, who tend to belong to younger generations. Originality/value Overall, the findings present important implications for managing job flexibility in Mexico and other Latin American countries, particularly for younger professionals.

Diversity in organizations

The study of diversity in organizations addresses the implications of workplace diversity from social justice, legal compliance, and organizational performance standpoints. Diversity in groups and organizations is associated with social categorization and information/decision-making processes, which respectively are related to adverse and beneficial attitudes and behaviors. Diversity scholars have attempted to shed light into these mixed results by addressing the role of categorical and relational demography, diversity types, curvilinear and interactive effects, and complex conceptualizations of diversity. Diversity management strategies, such as affirmative action and management-led diversity initiatives, have been designed to reduce discrimination and stimulate the beneficial effects of diversity.