Political affiliation dissimilarity: Exploring lone affiliate employees' work attitudes and experiences

ORCID Identifiers

0000-0002-3361-168X

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Stress and Health

Publication Date

8-9-2021

Abstract

Political affiliation is an important demographic variable that has been relatively neglected in the organizational literature. At present, it is unclear how political dissimilarity between employees and their coworkers affects employees' attitudes and experiences, and whether traditional theories are applicable to this unique form of diversity. Based on time-lagged data from a sample of working Americans (N = 360), we found that lone affiliates (employees who work with coworkers who do not share the same political affiliation) experienced lower levels of positive attitudes than majority affiliates (employees who work with coworkers who do share the same political affiliation). Specifically, in Republican majority organizations, Democrats had lower job satisfaction and affective commitment compared to Republicans. This difference was not found in Democrat majority organizations. Interestingly, these trends were not found for negative experiences, such as incivility from coworkers and depletion. Unaffiliated employees had a unique set of attitudes and experiences in that they suffered the most in organizations with no clear affiliation. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future directions are also discussed.

ISSN

1532-2998

Publisher

Wiley

Disciplines

Business | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Scopus ID

85112623286

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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