Examining Workplace Ostracism Experiences in Academia: Understanding How Differences in the Faculty Ranks Influence Inclusive Climates on Campus.
Front Psychol. 2016; 7:753.FP

Abstract

Research on the retention of women in academia has focused on challenges, including a "chilly climate," devaluation, and incivility. The unique consequences of workplace ostracism - being ignored and excluded by others in an organizational setting - require focus on this experience as another interpersonal challenge for women in academia. The purpose of this study is to examine differences in the faculty experiences and outcomes of workplace ostracism, and to determine if these experiences are affected significantly by the gender composition of an employee's specific department. Participants were recruited at two time points to complete campus climate surveys that were distributed to faculty at a large, public, research university. We examined the number of reported ostracism experiences (Study 1) and perceived information sharing (Study 2) among male and female university faculty. The findings indicated that female faculty members perceived more workplace ostracism than male faculty members. Analyses of department gender ratios suggested that the proportion of women in the department did not reduce the amount of workplace ostracism experienced by women. No gender differences were found in perceived information sharing. However, we found that Faculty of Color, both men and women, reported more frequent information exclusion than White faculty. These results have important implications for theoretical and practical understandings of workplace demography and suggest that it is necessary to look at subtle, ambiguous forms of discrimination in order to increase retention of faculty from underrepresented groups in academia.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Zimmerman CA

Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station TX, USA.

Carter-Sowell AR

Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College StationTX, USA; Department of Psychology and Africana Studies Program, Texas A&M University, College StationTX, USA.

Xu X

Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, OH, USA.

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

27303322

Citation

Zimmerman, Carla A., et al. "Examining Workplace Ostracism Experiences in Academia: Understanding How Differences in the Faculty Ranks Influence Inclusive Climates On Campus." Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 7, 2016, p. 753.

Zimmerman CA, Carter-Sowell AR, Xu X. Examining Workplace Ostracism Experiences in Academia: Understanding How Differences in the Faculty Ranks Influence Inclusive Climates on Campus. Front Psychol. 2016;7:753.

Zimmerman, C. A., Carter-Sowell, A. R., & Xu, X. (2016). Examining Workplace Ostracism Experiences in Academia: Understanding How Differences in the Faculty Ranks Influence Inclusive Climates on Campus. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 753. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00753

* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case

TY - JOUR T1 - Examining Workplace Ostracism Experiences in Academia: Understanding How Differences in the Faculty Ranks Influence Inclusive Climates on Campus. AU - Zimmerman,Carla A, AU - Carter-Sowell,Adrienne R, AU - Xu,Xiaohong, Y1 - 2016/05/30/ PY - 2015/12/02/received PY - 2016/05/06/accepted PY - 2016/6/16/entrez PY - 2016/6/16/pubmed PY - 2016/6/16/medline KW - Faculty of Color KW - chilly climate KW - gender diversity KW - group status KW - information exclusion KW - workplace ostracism SP - 753 EP - 753 JF - Frontiers in psychology JO - Front Psychol VL - 7 N2 - Research on the retention of women in academia has focused on challenges, including a "chilly climate," devaluation, and incivility. The unique consequences of workplace ostracism - being ignored and excluded by others in an organizational setting - require focus on this experience as another interpersonal challenge for women in academia. The purpose of this study is to examine differences in the faculty experiences and outcomes of workplace ostracism, and to determine if these experiences are affected significantly by the gender composition of an employee's specific department. Participants were recruited at two time points to complete campus climate surveys that were distributed to faculty at a large, public, research university. We examined the number of reported ostracism experiences (Study 1) and perceived information sharing (Study 2) among male and female university faculty. The findings indicated that female faculty members perceived more workplace ostracism than male faculty members. Analyses of department gender ratios suggested that the proportion of women in the department did not reduce the amount of workplace ostracism experienced by women. No gender differences were found in perceived information sharing. However, we found that Faculty of Color, both men and women, reported more frequent information exclusion than White faculty. These results have important implications for theoretical and practical understandings of workplace demography and suggest that it is necessary to look at subtle, ambiguous forms of discrimination in order to increase retention of faculty from underrepresented groups in academia. SN - 1664-1078 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/27303322/Examining_Workplace_Ostracism_Experiences_in_Academia:_Understanding_How_Differences_in_the_Faculty_Ranks_Influence_Inclusive_Climates_on_Campus_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -

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Examining Workplace Ostracism Experiences in Academia: Understanding How Differences in the Faculty Ranks Influence Inclusive Climates on Campus.Front Psychol. 2016; 7:753.FP