An investigation into factors that influence employees to support diversity in the South African workplace

The aim of this study was to investigate some of the factors that are associated with support of diversity in the South African workplace. Three particular factors were considered: employees’ race and gender and the degree to which employees felt their socio-emotional needs for acceptance or empowerment had been addressed. The importance of satisfying individuals’ socio-emotional needs for them to be willing to engage with members of other groups is highlighted in Shnabel and Nadler’s (2008) Needs-Based Model of Reconciliation (NBMR), which states that groups are only willing to reconcile once their socio-emotional needs have been addressed. Furthermore, the model specifies that these needs are different for members of groups who were victims in a conflict situation compared to those who belong to the perpetrating group. While victims have a need for empowerment in order to be seen as equal players in society, perpetrators want to feel accepted in society and thus have a need for acceptance. Based on the literature reviewed the study’s first hypothesis stated that previously disadvantaged groups would place more value on diversity than previously advantaged groups and that women would value diversity more than men. The second hypothesis was that previously advantaged groups have a higher need for acceptance than empowerment and previously disadvantaged groups have a higher need for empowerment than acceptance. The last hypothesis proposed that the lower their need for empowerment, the more previously disadvantaged individuals would value diversity and the lower their need for acceptance, the more previously advantaged individuals would value diversity.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Organisational Psychology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Hako, Pumla

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Meyer, Ines

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5863

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/5863