Advisor

Keith James

Date of Award

1-1-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Psychology

Department

Psychology

Physical Description

1 online resource (iv, 111 p.) : ill. (some col.)

Subjects

Inclusion, Identity, Diversity climate, Diversity in the workplace, Work environment, Organizational justice, Quality of work life

DOI

10.15760/etd.158

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to develop a taxonomy of workplace diversity and examine its implications for understanding and predicting diversity at work. A 7-dimension taxonomy was originally developed by reviewing contemporary literature on diversity in the workplace. The taxonomy is grounded in Social Identity Theory. Preliminary research found that each of the seven dimensions of the taxonomy were present in 78 critical incidents describing work-relevant diversity dynamics. The current study reports the development and administration of an instrument, the Workplace Diversity Inventory (WDI), which was used to empirically examine the 7-factor model of the taxonomy in over 20 different industries. Exploratory factor analysis using data from 209 respondents supported a six-dimension taxonomy, with one factor from the proposed taxonomy (Leadership) collapsed into two of the included WDI dimensions (Diversity Climate and Organizational Justice). Subsequent confirmatory factor analysis indicated an adequate to good fit for the six-factor model, with the WDI reduced from 47 to 24 items. Results and implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Description

Portland State University. Dept. of Psychology

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/7240

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