Diversity and Inclusion Favoritism: Creating Distributive Injustices That Erode Organizational Identity

Abstract

Diversity and inclusion concepts remain unclear, which has generated an explosion of new viewpoints to pursue distributive justice. These variations suggest the need for a criterion to recognize partiality or prejudices in diversity and inclusion practices. This study applies the social identity approach to investigate the impact of diversity and inclusion distributive injustices on an employee’s organizational identity. Research on perceived employee distributive injustice (PEDI) suggests organizations that favor a person's social categorization or identity may more likely create unfair compensations and incentive biases. This study hypothesizes that distributive injustices can recognize diversity and inclusion practices that negatively affect an employee’s organizational identity. The study consists of 451 full-time US employees. A Cronbach's alpha coefficient for distributive injustice is .94, and organizational identity is .92. The findings confirm that leaders and HR professionals who implement diversity and inclusion practices that favor a social characteristic or identity will erode organizational identity.