Supervisor integrity empowers employees to advocate for diversity in problematic climates

Area of Science:

• Organizational Behavior
• Social Psychology
• Diversity and Inclusion

Background:

• Supervisors face challenges encouraging diversity advocacy behaviors essential for equitable workplaces.
• Lack of employee empowerment may hinder engagement in diversity advocacy.
• Conceptualizing diversity advocacy as a moral behavior is key.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how supervisor integrity empowers employees to engage in diversity advocacy.
• To explore the moderating role of perceived diversity climate on this relationship.
• To develop and validate a measure of diversity advocacy.

Main Methods:

• Three studies were conducted: a field study with employees, an experimental vignette study, and an immersive experiment with behavioral outcomes.
• Data were collected from diverse samples including a field sample, preregistered vignette, and preregistered immersive experiment.
• A new four-item diversity advocacy scale was developed and validated.

Main Results:

• Supervisor integrity was found to empower employees to engage in diversity advocacy.
• The positive effect of supervisor integrity on diversity advocacy was strongest when employees perceived a negative diversity climate.
• The developed diversity advocacy scale demonstrated validity.

Conclusions:

• Supervisor integrity is a crucial factor in fostering diversity advocacy among employees.
• Organizational contexts with negative diversity climates may amplify the impact of supervisor integrity on advocacy behaviors.
• Findings contribute to theories of diversity, empowerment, leadership, and organizational climate.