Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Psychology
First Advisor
Tori L. Crain
Term of Graduation
Winter 2025
Date of Publication
2-7-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Applied Psychology
Department
Psychology
Language
English
Subjects
diversity recruitment, minority employees, remote work, well-being, workplace loneliness
Physical Description
1 online resource (viii, 287 pages)
Abstract
Through a series of three manuscripts, the dissertation explores the experiences of minority groups across different points of the employee life cycle. As minority employees often face a negative set of unique stressors inside and outside of work, this series of papers attempt to further our understanding of minority experiences during the organizational stages of recruitment and retention. The first manuscript tests the effects of recruitment material on pre-hire applicant outcomes for minorities by integrating literature on realistic job previews (RJPs) and diversity recruitment. The experimental study finds that leader diversity testimonials that provide a mix of positive and negative (i.e., realistic) information about organizational diversity are rated more favorably compared to overly positive (i.e., idealized) testimonials among racial and ethnic minority applicants (N = 330). These empirical results suggest that organizations have an ethical imperative to provide minority applicants with realistic information regarding organizational diversity to allow minorities to make job-related decisions. The second manuscript integrates literature on RJPs, organizational impression management (OIM), and social identity theory (SIT) to propose a conceptual model of diversity recruitment for minority applicants. Specifically, I propose that diversity signals during recruitment influence downstream applicant outcomes and organizational outcomes across pre-hire and post-hire experiences for minorities. In addition, I identify mediating and moderating mechanisms that play a role in these relationships across the employee life cycle. What is left to be explored is the actual experiences among minority groups within the organization, especially with the continued rise of remote work. For this reason, the third manuscript examines the indirect relationship between the percentage of remote work and well-being outcomes via workplace loneliness among a sample of racial and ethnic minorities (N = 328). Results suggest that workplace loneliness is associated with negative well-being outcomes. Surprisingly, high levels of workplace psychological safety also significantly exacerbated the positive relationship between workplace loneliness and ratings of sleep dissatisfaction. When workplace psychological safety was high, greater workplace loneliness was associated with increased sleep dissatisfaction. Collectively, these studies will inform how to tailor recruitment material and implement organizational interventions to adapt to continuous societal events that continue to impact workplace and well-being experiences for minority employees.
Rights
© 2025 Jennifer Saucedo
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43151
Recommended Citation
Saucedo, Jennifer, "Experiences of Minority Workers: A Three-Study Dissertation Evaluating Recruitment and Workplace Experiences for Minority Workers" (2025). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 6776.
