IN SEARCH OF GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF ORGANIZATIONAL INCLUSION: AN EXPANDED APPROACH

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Berka, G. (2014). IN SEARCH OF GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF ORGANIZATIONAL INCLUSION: AN EXPANDED APPROACH. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

Organizational inclusion research, which includes assessing how employees experience a sense of feeling included or excluded in their work group, is a young and developing research area. Feelings of inclusion can be based on both formal policies and informal practices within an organization or work group (Mor Barak & Cherin, 1998). This study seeks to expand the concept of inclusion by testing whether the more informal feelings of belongingness, feeling known, and feeling valued for being unique in one's work group have associations with key organizational outcomes previously tied to inclusion research. In addition, the research evaluates the influence of an employee's own demographics or attributes, both on an absolute basis and in relation to one's work group, on feelings of inclusion. Last, the research considers how an employee's tenure in the work group may strengthen or reduce feelings of inclusion. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis displayed good fit for an inclusion model with five factors: involvement in decision making, access to communication and resources, belongingness, feeling known, and valued for uniqueness. Most of these five factors displayed strong associations with three organizational outcomes: organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. The study did not find any significant relationships between one's demographics or attributes, neither on an absolute basis nor in relation to one's work group, with either inclusion or organizational outcomes. The study also did not find that one's tenure in the work group had influence on inclusion factors. The self-report cross sectional survey design may have methodological issues contributing to these null findings, which are addressed. Overall findings indicate more research is needed for the inclusion concept to gain greater understanding of why employees feel included or excluded within their particular work group or organization.

Details
Author

Berka, Gregory

Title

IN SEARCH OF GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF ORGANIZATIONAL INCLUSION: AN EXPANDED APPROACH

Physical Description

1 online resource (116 pages) : PDF

Date

2014

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

Organizational inclusion research, which includes assessing how employees experience a sense of feeling included or excluded in their work group, is a young and developing research area. Feelings of inclusion can be based on both formal policies and informal practices within an organization or work group (Mor Barak & Cherin, 1998). This study seeks to expand the concept of inclusion by testing whether the more informal feelings of belongingness, feeling known, and feeling valued for being unique in one's work group have associations with key organizational outcomes previously tied to inclusion research. In addition, the research evaluates the influence of an employee's own demographics or attributes, both on an absolute basis and in relation to one's work group, on feelings of inclusion. Last, the research considers how an employee's tenure in the work group may strengthen or reduce feelings of inclusion. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis displayed good fit for an inclusion model with five factors: involvement in decision making, access to communication and resources, belongingness, feeling known, and valued for uniqueness. Most of these five factors displayed strong associations with three organizational outcomes: organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. The study did not find any significant relationships between one's demographics or attributes, neither on an absolute basis nor in relation to one's work group, with either inclusion or organizational outcomes. The study also did not find that one's tenure in the work group had influence on inclusion factors. The self-report cross sectional survey design may have methodological issues contributing to these null findings, which are addressed. Overall findings indicate more research is needed for the inclusion concept to gain greater understanding of why employees feel included or excluded within their particular work group or organization.

Genre

doctoral dissertations

Subjects--Topics

Organizational behavior

Degree

Ph.D.

Keywords

Commitment
Inclusion
Organization
Satisfaction
Turnover
Work Group

Subject Area

Organizational Science

Advisor(s)

Woehr, David

Committee Members

Shanock, Linda
Beck, Tammy
Long, Shawn

Degree Note

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2014.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Berka_uncc_0694D_10662

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:482