Perceived environment of ethnic diversity as a determinant of organisational identification in the public sector

Abstract

Word count-7958 (all text including references and appendices) AbstractPurpose-As public sector managers implement the policy of employing people that broadly reflects the social make up of a local society, there is need to ensure that employees have a positive perception of ethnic diversity. Perceived environment of ethnic diversity (PEED) is conceptualised as employees' view of how they are treated at work irrespective of where they come from. This study investigates the relationship between PEED and organisational identification (OID).Method-Data was collected by means of a survey of 908 employees from four public sector organisations in a state in Nigeria. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.Findings-Findings showed that OID may be fostered among multi-ethnic employees through the following framework; first, that PEED had a direct relationship with OID and support was found for which was explained by the mediating role of co-worker social support (CWSS). Second, that the effect of CWSS mediation was moderated by employees' ethnic selfidentification (ESI) such that those with strong ESI experienced lower OID.Practical implications-As employee compositions in organisations increase in diversity, CWSS is presented in this study as a veritable measure for managers to foster OID.Originality/value-This study is novel as it is one of the first to examine the mechanisms for linking PEED to OID through mediating effect of CWSS at different levels of ESI. Other contributions are discussed in detail in the study.

Organization culture types and the replication of transferred human resource management practices in multinational subsidiaries in Nigeria

“…These traditional practices are still evident in contemporary organizations and they form the basis for acceptable behavioral patterns in the workplace, thus, underscoring the complexity of work and employment relations in Nigeria (Mordi et al ., 2013). For instance, there is a high prevalence of ethnic self-identification in modern Nigerian organizations, which sees employees feeling a sense of loyalty more to people from their ethnic region than to their organization itself (Pepple, 2020; Pepple and Davies, 2019a, b). This is due to the prevailing sociocultural orientation in the country.…”

“…From a power distance perspective (Hofstede, 1980), in Nigeria, there is an emphasis on age seniority. Nigeria's culture supports the use of seniority-based pay and promotion, which may hinder the provision of critical feedback following the appraisal process as well as using appraisal outcomes for termination decisions, as employees see themselves as a family unit (Pepple and Davies, 2019a, b; Oseghale et al ., 2019). Such institutional distinctiveness may make it difficult to use appraisal outcomes for individual performance-related pay (I-PRP) in collectivist environments.…”