The moderating effect of climate for inclusion on supervisor-subordinate dissimilarity outcomes
Journal
Academy of Management Proceedings
ISSN
0065-0668
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2014-08-04
Author(s)
Abstract
Growing workforce diversity increases the likelihood that managers and subordinates will differ along demographic lines, a situation that has important implications for relationship quality and organizational outcomes. In a sample of 1,253 employees from 54 work-units, we investigate the effects of differences in disability status on individual performance and find that dissimilarity exhibits negative indirect relationships via leader-member-exchange (LMX) quality. Furthermore, we investigate the role of unit-level climate for inclusion in this relationship. In addition to a positive main effect of climate for inclusion on LMX relationships, we also find support for a buffering effect of unit-level climate for inclusion on the negative dissimilarity-LMX relationship for situations in which the supervisor, but not the subordinate, has a disability. This study contributes to the growing literature on diversity by investigating supervisor-subordinate differences in disability, an often neglected dimension of diversity, and by taking into account the specific constellation of differences, a fact that is overlooked in current literature. In addition, we focus on climate for inclusion as a potential tool for organizations to better leverage diversity in their firms, and are among the first to empirically examine this new construct.
Language
English
Keywords
supervisor-subordinate dissimilarity
climate for inclusion
disability
LMX
multilevel study
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Book title
Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings. 2014
Publisher
Academy of Management
Start page
1
End page
40
Pages
40
Event Title
74th Academy of Management Annual Meeting (AOM) 2014 "The Power of Words"
Event Location
Philadelphia, PA
Event Date
01-05.08.2014
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
231006