Personality characteristics and workplace trust of majority and minority employees in the Netherlands

Abstract

The workforce of the Netherlands and other countries is becoming increasingly culturally diverse. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research specifically investigating differences between majority and minority employees’ experiences at the workplace. Particularly comparisons between minority employees of different generations have hardly been reported in the literature. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated whether differences in workplace trust exist between majority employees and, first-, and second-generation minority employees. In addition, we studied the role of a number of relevant personality traits in relation to workplace trust, conceptualized as trust in colleagues, trust in the supervisor and trust in the organization. Findings show that differences in workplace trust exist and that personality traits are related differently to workplace trust across the three groups of employees. The findings are discussed and practical implications are proposed.