Birds of a feather flock together race versus gender preference in the South African workplace

Social Identity Theory proposes that individuals derive part of their identity and their social identity, through their membership in social groups. In order to derive a positive social identity, they attempt to compare themselves more favourably in comparison to members of groups they do not belong to, which may at times leads to discrimination against out-group members. Due to South Africa‟s history of race- and gender-based oppression, it is likely that race and gender are two particularly salient group memberships and that gender- and racebased discrimination are thus particularly prominent. Research has shown that discrimination in the workplace has negative effects, which result in reduced productivity as well as reduced employee engagement and wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which employees show a preference for co-workers from their own gender and racial groups and to establish whether their racial or gender bias is stronger.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Organisational Psychology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Hansen, Marion

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Meyer, Ines

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5864

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/5864