Employee perception of diversity in Morocco: empirical insights

Abstract

Purpose – The present paper aims to shed light on workers ' perception of diversity and their demographical characteristics as well as characteristics of their organizations. Design/methodology/approach – Descriptive statistics and multiple regression technique were used to, respectively, describe the sample and test the research hypothesis. Findings – The current study findings reveal that three variables influence employee perception about diversity within Moroccan organizations, namely, education, industry and nationality. The more employees are educated, the more positively they perceive diversity. The same logic applies to nationality and industry. Diversity is better perceived by foreign workers in Morocco and is most prevalent in the services industry. Research limitations/implications – The sample size (N = 87) is too small compared to the number of variables included in the research. Practical implications – Enhancing employees’ diversity climate perceptions may have financial and non-financial implications for organizations. Moreover, diversity perception is linked to worker attitudes in the workplace. Social implications – Policymakers in Morocco ought to design and enforce human resource policies that encourage organizations to recruit employees with diverse backgrounds. To do so, it is recommended that a commission or task force be created to fulfill the role of a “watchdog” in diversity-related spheres such as developing plans and models for employers, setting diversity-related goals and objectives and putting in place adequate and effective mechanisms and tools to assess the implementation of diversity initiatives by Moroccan organizations. Originality/value – The current research is the first survey-based study on the topic in the Moroccan context. Further, the fact the respondents are from various organizations, industries and sectors allows for the elimination of the normative influence of a single organizational culture.