https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/southwales/oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/a557968a-f270-445a-aecb-50bf03731617
type: CreativeWork
name: Grisilience: An Interpretivist Qualitative Case Study Of Indigenous Employees’ Success In Reaching Management And Professional Positions Within The Gaming Industry In Canada: Contributing Factors And Barriers
description: This doctoral study critically examines Indigenous representation and advancement within Canada’s gaming industry, focusing on the Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation (SaskGaming), with comparative insights from the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA) and U.S. Tribal gaming operations. Although Indigenous participation in front-line roles at SaskGaming approaches 60 percent, representation in professional and managerial positions remains proportionally limited. The study explores why this disparity persists and identifies the structural, relational, and organizational conditions that enable or constrain Indigenous career progression. An initial quantitative diagnostic review of SaskGaming hiring data (2017–2021) indicated that recruitment processes did not appear to constitute the primary barrier to Indigenous progression. The absence of a clear statistical relationship between hiring scores and subsequent tenure suggested that inequities may emerge after employment entry rather than at the point of recruitment. This preliminary analysis functioned as a contextual diagnostic precursor to the main research rather than as a primary analytic component. The study is therefore not positioned as mixed-methods; instead, it is framed as a single-method interpretivist qualitative case study informed by critical and Indigenous methodological principles. Drawing on thirty-two semi-structured interviews conducted over twenty-four months, the research investigates how Indigenous employees experience belonging, leadership, and advancement within organizations governed by Western managerial systems. While informed by Indigenous theoretical perspectives, the study is not a decolonising methodology. Instead, it adopts a critically integrative stance—bringing Indigenous and Western frameworks into proximity while recognising that, like parallel lines, these systems often coexist closely without fully intersecting within existing organizational structures. The theoretical framewor…
abstract: This doctoral study critically examines Indigenous representation and advancement within Canada’s gaming industry, focusing on the Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation (SaskGaming), with comparative insights from the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA) and U.S. Tribal gaming operations. Although Indigenous participation in front-line roles at SaskGaming approaches 60 percent, representation in professional and managerial positions remains proportionally limited. The study explores why this disparity persists and identifies the structural, relational, and organizational conditions that enable or constrain Indigenous career progression. An initial quantitative diagnostic review of SaskGaming hiring data (2017–2021) indicated that recruitment processes did not appear to constitute the primary barrier to Indigenous progression. The absence of a clear statistical relationship between hiring scores and subsequent tenure suggested that inequities may emerge after employment entry rather than at the point of recruitment. This preliminary analysis functioned as a contextual diagnostic precursor to the main research rather than as a primary analytic component. The study is therefore not positioned as mixed-methods; instead, it is framed as a single-method interpretivist qualitative case study informed by critical and Indigenous methodological principles. Drawing on thirty-two semi-structured interviews conducted over twenty-four months, the research investigates how Indigenous employees experience belonging, leadership, and advancement within organizations governed by Western managerial systems. While informed by Indigenous theoretical perspectives, the study is not a decolonising methodology. Instead, it adopts a critically integrative stance—bringing Indigenous and Western frameworks into proximity while recognising that, like parallel lines, these systems often coexist closely without fully intersecting within existing organizational structures. The theoretical framewor…
author: Harmon, Michelle Claire
language: eng
keywords: Gaming industry, TribalCrit, Indigenous Wholism, neo-pragmatism, positive psychology, relational accountability, Community, organizational transformation
date published: 2026
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:40:03Z
provider: University of South Wales
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of South Wales