Diversity Climate Perceptions and Turnover Intentions: Evidence From the Indian IT Industry

Diversity Climate Perceptions and Turnover Intentions: Evidence From the Indian IT Industry

Itinpreet Kaur, Geeta Mishra, Rahela Farooqi
DOI: 10.4018/IJHCITP.300309
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Abstract

The present research aims to examine the sequential mediating effect of inclusion and job satisfaction in the relationship between diversity climate and employee turnover intentions. Data has been collected from 302 full-time employees working in the Indian IT industry using a self-administered questionnaire. Current research work tests the hypothesized connection using the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. Further, the proposed indirect effect was determined using the PROCESS program. Study results revealed that employee sense of inclusion and job satisfaction sequentially mediates the relationship between diversity climate and turnover intentions. Taking into consideration the practical implications of the research, the present study stresses the importance of enforcing inclusive HR policies for the establishment of a positive climate for diversity. The present study adds up to the literature database by assessing the fundamental mechanism that clarifies the relationship between diversity climate and turnover intentions.
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Introduction

The revival of research on diversity climate has gradually transpired throughout the decade (McKay et al., 2011; Shore et al., 2011). Advent with globalization, internationalization, and technological advancement, the emerging markets are undergoing a landscape change. The world today has become a global village, making organizations increasingly diverse. The universality of diversity in workplaces cannot be overlooked as its quintessence has transformed from juridical responsibility to strategic paramountcy (Kundu and Mor, 2017). Diversity in the workforce position itself as an indispensable element in organizations and thus, the diversified workforce is recognized by contemporary organizations as a tactic for optimizing market opportunities.

The Indian workforce engirds a diversity of caste, religion, education, gender, age, disability, language, and regional background. Organizations have recognized the importance of having a motivated and diverse workforce to reach the milestone at a rapid pace (Sinha and Bhatt, 2020). Therefore, to gain strategic advantage from the workforce, organizations emanate diversity management to the forefront. Diversity management is a deliberate mechanism for establishing and maintaining a supportive work environment that values all individuals' commonalities and dissimilarities (Singh, 2018). Managing diversity effectively needs an appropriate diversity climate across the organizational hierarchy. Consequently, researchers emphasize diversity climate which is delineated as “employee behaviors and attitudes that are grounded in perceptions of the organizational context related to women and minorities” (Mor Barak et al., 1998, p.83).

Dwertmann et al., (2016) contended that the climate for diversity is perceived from two different viewpoints. The first perspective is alluded to as the “fairness and discrimination” viewpoint, which emphasizes providing equal opportunities, ensuring fair representation, mitigating discrimination in workplaces as well as eradicating social exclusion while the second viewpoint is the “synergy perspective”, which is concerned with realizing the possible performance advantages of diversity by encompassing divergent skills, strengths, experiences, and perspectives. The two points of view are founded on different theoretical foundations, and therefore, representing two fundamentally divergent (but interconnected) notions. The synergy perspective is more oriented on how teams or units can maximize organizational efficiency by incorporating different perspectives, experiences, abilities, and talents but has a debilitated analytical footing to anticipate outcomes like employee turnover. As a result, the current study sheds light on the “fairness and discrimination” viewpoint, which emphasizes perceptions of individuals regarding workplace policies, processes, and numerous different cues enabling them to discern whether their organization values or do not value diversity.

The concept of diversity climate has acquired attention as it serves a significant role in optimizing the favorable and positive effects of diversity in the workplace (Cachat‐Rosset et al., 2019). Various researchers have documented the association between diversity climate and positive outcomes (Reinwald et al., 2018) little work has been carried to explore the mechanisms by which diversity climate results in positive outcomes. Though some studies explored mediating processes like organizational embeddedness, organizational justice, calculative attachment, organizational commitment (Jolly and Self, 2020; Madera et al., 2016; Kaplan et al., 2011; McKay et al., 2007) a deeper comprehension of the concurrent mediating process is needed (Barreto, 2019). Thus, the study postulate that employee sense of inclusion and job satisfaction concurrently account for the underlying mediating mechanism through which diversity climate relates to employee turnover intentions to elicit beneficial outcomes.

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