Does Procedural Justice Increase the Inclusion of Migrants? A Group Engagement Model Perspective

Abstract

Workforces have become more culturally diverse due to globalization, skilled labor shortages, aging societies, and hardships in developing countries. One critical challenge associated with managing a culturally diverse workforce is ensuring inclusion. Migrant workers often experience discrimination, social exclusion, and lower organizational identification. Further attention is required to address these challenges and create inclusive workplaces for migrants. We integrate research on migrant workers with research on the group engagement model to create a model for understanding and enhancing migrant worker inclusion. We test our model using data drawn from employees in a large-scale survey of Australian workplaces. The results of our multilevel moderated mediation analysis indicate that, consistent with the group engagement model, a procedurally fair work environment tends to increase organizational identification, which in turn is associated with higher levels of work engagement. Importantly, our results also indicate that procedural justice climate is more important for migrant than for native workers. Our work has clear implications for practice. Organizations should establish a procedurally fair work environment in which cultural minorities experience consistent and unbiased policies and procedures, are able to express their opinions, and participate in decision-making.