Political affiliation dissimilarity: Exploring lone affiliate employees' work attitudes and experiences

Abstract

Political affiliation is an important demographic variable that has been relatively neglected in the organizational literature. At present, it is unclear how political dissimilarity between employees and their coworkers affects employees' attitudes and experiences, and whether traditional theories are applicable to this unique form of diversity. Based on time‐lagged data from a sample of working Americans (N = 360), we found that lone affiliates (employees who work with coworkers who do not share the same political affiliation) experienced lower levels of positive attitudes than majority affiliates (employees who work with coworkers who do share the same political affiliation). Specifically, in Republican majority organizations, Democrats had lower job satisfaction and affective commitment compared to Republicans. This difference was not found in Democrat majority organizations. Interestingly, these trends were not found for negative experiences, such as incivility from coworkers and depletion. Unaffiliated employees had a unique set of attitudes and experiences in that they suffered the most in organizations with no clear affiliation. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future directions are also discussed.

Judging job applicants by their politics: Effects of target–rater political dissimilarity on discrimination, cooperation, and stereotyping

“…Considering the effort devoted to supporting diversity in organizations, the modest attention to the effects of political affiliation is surprising (Henderson & Jeong, 2022). Since many people are prejudiced against politically dissimilar others (Chambers et al, 2013), and most adults engage in daily interaction with other people at their workplace, it is important to study the consequences of political prejudice in work settings.…”

Political Ideology Dissimilarity: Workplace Incivility and Employee Outcomes

“…In the Snihur (2021) study, evidence of negative bias was detected in conservative reviewers toward nonconservative applicants, though the same effect was not supported for liberal reviewers. In a study by Henderson and Jeong (2020), it was observed that Democrats had lower levels of job satisfaction and affective commitment when working in Republican majority institutions, but the same effect was not observed in Republicans working in Democrat majority institutions. With mixed results in workplace outcomes related to any one particular ideology, it may be important to remain skeptical of effects that have not been replicated until further research might support such findings.…”