The Absence of Positive Experiences: Examining Disparities in the Workplace

Abstract

The current contribution offers a new framework to understand disparities in workplace experiences: two forms of advantage: (a) positive experiences encountered (privilege) and (b) negative experiences spared (protection), and two forms of disadvantage: (c) negative experiences encountered (discrimination) and (d) positive experiences missed (deprivation). Using multiple years of nationally representative samples from the General Social Survey, we empirically test how these disparities are related to group differences in key organizational outcomes, such as turnover intention and employee well- being. We find that disadvantaged group members are not only exposed to more negative experiences such as discrimination and harassment compared to advantaged group members, the former are also exposed to fewer positive experiences such as voice and support, compared to the latter. As predicted, we find that exposure to negative versus positive experiences are deferentially associated with key outcomes such as turnover intention. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the proposed framework to study racial and gender inequity in the workplace.