The effects of diversity climate on the work attitudes of refugee employees: The mediating role of psychological capital and moderating role of ethnic identity

Highlights

• Perceptions of diversity climate were positively related to refugees' psychological capital.

• Psychological capital mediated the diversity climate/organizational commitment relationship.

• Ethnic identity strengthened refugees' responses to diversity climate.

Abstract

This article examines the psychological processes through which diversity climate influences the work attitudes of refugee employees in Australia, and the conditional effects of ethnic identity on the relationship between diversity climate and work attitudes. Drawing on survey data from 135 refugees in employment in Australia, diversity climate was found to positively influence the affective organizational commitment of refugee employees through enhancing their psychological capital. The influence of diversity climate on both affective organizational commitment and turnover intentions through psychological capital was also found to be stronger when employees identify more with their ethnic group (ethnic identity). These findings are consistent with the predictions of conservation of resources theory (COR) and rejection sensitivity theory.

Introduction

There is growing recognition that better settlement outcomes are achieved amongst refugees when they obtain meaningful employment outcomes (Colic-Peisker, 2009, Colic-Peisker and Tilbury, 2006). Yet, in addition to facing significant barriers to finding work (Jackson & Bauder, 2014), refugees also experience difficulties integrating into the workplace and face discrimination at work (Colic-Peisker & Tilbury, 2006). Such discrimination is likely to lead them to identify less with their employing organization, and increases the likelihood that they will leave their jobs.

Although researchers have begun to examine the factors that predict the transition of refugees into employment (Correa-Velez, Barnett, & Gifford, 2015), limited research has focused on how refugee employees perceive and respond to organizational attempts to create diversity climates in the workplace that do not tolerate discrimination, and how this can assist refugee employees maintain positive work attitudes. Understanding the processes by which organizations can influence positive work attitudes amongst refugee employees is important given that they have been linked to positive behavioral outcomes, such as improved job performance and the ability to maintain continuing employment (Colic-Peisker, 2009), and also assist refugees to develop social support networks and integrate into the workplace (Gorodnichenko and Roland, 2012a, Gorodnichenko and Roland, 2012b, Hobfoll, 2001).

Unlike other migrants, refugees have often been subjected to major challenges such as discrimination due to their ethnic identity and social status, threats to life and internal displacement, leading them to seek asylum (see Convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees - UNHCR, 2011). Non-discrimination is one of three primary principles underlying the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951), the key instrument of international law which protects refugees. Employment is a crucial strategy by which individuals adapt to new social conditions and establish social stability during resettlement (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012a, Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012b). Therefore, it is important for refugees to feel socially included, while obtaining and holding onto, meaningful work.

As we have mentioned, refugees may continue to suffer from discrimination after they have acquired refugee status (Colic-Peisker & Tilbury, 2006). These challenges can disrupt their adaptation to the workplace, flowing on to negatively affect the organizational climate and other employees. This is in spite of the fact that countries such as Australia have regulations supporting workplace diversity that should protect them from discrimination. Discrimination faced by refugees is likely to create additional risks for organizations, such as increased their costs due to declines in productivity, workplace conflict and stress, and exposure to litigation. This study seeks to address some of these issues by helping organizations understand how they can foster refugees' positive attitudes towards work through enhancing the extent to which refugee employees' feel the organization supports them as individuals from often stigmatized minority ethnic groups.

In particular, we examine how perceptions of organizational climate, specifically diversity climate, influence the work attitudes of refugee employees. We define diversity climate as the extent to which employees' perceive that the organization values diversity through formal structures, informal values and social integration of under-represented employees (Dwertmann, Nishii, & van Knippenberg, 2016). Drawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989, Hobfoll, 2001), we argue that by promoting a climate of diversity, organizations will positively influence the work attitudes of refugee employees through fostering their positive psychological resources of hope, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy, known in the literature as psychological capital or PsyCap (Luthans and Youssef, 2004, Luthans et al., 2007).

In addition, drawing upon rejection sensitivity theory (Downey & Feldman, 1996), we argue that this process will be especially important for refugees who feel a strong sense of identity with their ethnic group (ethnic identity). Such individuals will be more sensitive to discrimination and, therefore, more attuned to whether their organization adopts policies to ensure that their ethnic background is respected within the workplace. The proposed research model is presented in Fig. 1, below.

The study draws on data collected from 135 re-settled refugee employees in Melbourne, Australia, across two time periods. Melbourne has a long history of absorbing a diverse range of economic and refugee migrants into its relatively resilient economy. Workplace integration into the active labor market has historically facilitated refugee adaptation in Australia. However, the Australian government's offshore resettlement of refugees has more recently polarized views in the general population towards refugee arrivals, which might be expected to trickle down to influence the organizational climates in which refugee employees work. This makes the context of this study relevant and important. The study considers the adaptation of refugees from four collectivistic societies in the Middle East and Central Asian countries typically associated with IMAs (irregular maritime arrivals), who arrived in Australia prior to August 13, 2012 and were around two to three years into their resettlement process after receiving work rights. Although the majority of participants in the study were male, around 15% were female, allowing us to control for gender differences in how refugee employees perceive and respond to different facets of the work environment, and how they develop psychological resources. Controlling for gender differences is important given a growing consensus that the ressettlement experiences of female and male refugees may vary considerably (Young & Chang, 2015). Given the majority of refugees in our sample come from highly traditional, male-dominated societies in the Middle East, we might expect the experiences of female refugees to be quite different from that to males. For example, female refugees from societies such as Afghanistan have been shown to face greater distress than male refugees when ressettling overseas, as a result of gender specific expectations that arise from traditionally-held cultural beliefs (Alemi, Weller, Montgomery, & James, 2017). This may make it harder for females to build psychological resources and respond more positively to climates in which diversity is supported than males.

The present study makes a number of important contributions. First, through drawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989, Hobfoll, 2001), the present study allows us to determine whether a contextual resource, the diversity climate of the organization, promotes the personal psychological resources (psychological capital) of refugee employees, and, in turn, influences their work attitudes. Adopting such a perspective to understand the process by which organizational policies that support refugee integration into the workforce influence their work attitudes is salient, given that refugees typically have lower levels of psychological resources than those in the general population as a result of the challenges that they have faced in resettling in a new country.

In addition, by drawing on rejection sensitivity theory (Downey & Feldman, 1996), the present study examines the extent to which an individual identifies with their ethnic group influences the strength of the relationship between their perceptions of the diversity climate and their work attitudes. This is the second contribution of the study.

This study makes a third contribution by providing new insight into the employment experiences of minorities who are refugees from collectivistic societies in the Middle East and Central Asia, which should be of interest to researchers in refugee studies and related disciplines. People from this background represent an under-researched cohort with special relevance to existing refugee policy in developed economies such as Australia (Fleahy, 2016).

Finally, the study also has important practical implications in that it shows how organizations, through creating and maintaining diversity climates, can enhance the personal resources of refugee employees, which in turn promotes their positive work attitudes such as affective organizational commitment (psychological attachment to one's organization: Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993), and reduces their turnover intentions.