Assessing How Perceived Inclusion Affects Minority Employees’ Organizational Satisfaction in Higher Education

Abstract

Workplace inclusion research indicates that there is a relationship between an individual’s demographic status in the workgroup and organizational inclusion. Evidence also suggests that employee job dissatisfaction contributes to turnover intentions. There is a need for investigating ways to create work environments in which diverse individuals can be integrated into organizations and feel included. To address this need, in this present study, a quantitative exploratory approach was used to measure the relationship between minority status and job satisfaction for employees in higher education institutions in the U.S., and the relationship between minority employees’ status and their perceptions of inclusion in their workgroups. A sample of 1,898 participants employed in the United States higher education organizations were recruited using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Findings illustrate there is a statistically significant positive correlation between inclusion and workplace satisfaction. The results also show there are differences in inclusion by demographic status, sexual orientation, disability status, religion, and type of workplace. One of the study’s implications, if employees feel they are excluded in the workplace, they are more likely to become dissatisfied with their workplaces, which may result in voluntary turnover of high performing employees, as their feelings of being included go up, their satisfaction does. The study’s results allude to the issue minority groups employed in higher education organizations have a low sense of belonging, which may result in dissatisfaction with the workplace and eventually force them to quit their jobs.