Prejudice and Violence in the American Workplace, 1988-1991: Survey of an Eastern Corporation (ICPSR 6135)
Version Date: Nov 4, 2005 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Howard J. Ehrlich, National Institute Against Prejudice and Violence;
Barbara E.K. Larcom, National Institute Against Prejudice and Violence
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06135.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This study was conducted to examine the nature and extent of prejudice-based mistreatment of employees in the workplace. The researchers investigated the effects of mistreatment on employees' psychological well-being, interpersonal relationships, and perceptions of the work environment. Personal interviews were conducted with 327 first-line workers at an American corporation in the middle Atlantic states to determine workers' experiences of violence, discrimination, and prejudice and their responses to such victimization. Three dimensions of victimization were explored: personal victimization, prejudiced victimization, and co-victimization. Self-reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress were identified. Data were also collected to ascertain job satisfaction and job autonomy and to determine if these factors mitigate the effects of mistreatment. Demographic information includes age, race, sex, income, education, marital status, ethnicity, religion, handicap, and sexual orientation. The company involved in the research has been kept anonymous.
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Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The site of this study was a corporation located in the middle Atlantic states. Approximately ten years prior to the study, the company had experienced difficulty implementing its affirmative action plan. Since then, the company had aggressively recruited African Americans and women of any background. This study was undertaken to examine the nature and extent of intergroup tensions, prejudice-based mistreatment, conflict, and ethnoviolence in the workplace and how these experiences affect psychological well-being, interpersonal relationships, perceptions of the work environment, and role performance of workers and managers and the various social groups to which they belong.
Study Design View help for Study Design
The unidentified corporation employed over 4,300 people and had 23 work sites in the local metropolitan area. The study was conducted at its two largest work sites, which are referred to by the pseudonyms Gopher and Blucher. Interviews with 327 employees at the work sites were conducted by the researchers and eight other trained interviewers. The data collection instrument included both structured and open-ended questions. Three dimensions of victimization were explored: personal victimization, prejudiced victimization, and co-victimization. Self-reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress were identified. Data were also collected to ascertain job satisfaction and job autonomy and to determine if these factors mitigate the effects of mistreatment. Respondents were limited to discussing incidents occurring in the last three years and were asked to describe their own personal experiences with mistreatment as well as instances of mistreatment involving coworkers.
Sample View help for Sample
Individuals were selected for the study through cluster sampling. Workers were randomly selected from the company's two largest work sites. Personnel records were reviewed to identify each individual's coworkers. The researchers attempted to interview the selected individual and all of her/his coworkers.
Universe View help for Universe
Employees at the two largest work sites of a corporation in the middle Atlantic states.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
personal interviews
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Data were collected on the frequency of prejudice-based mistreatment involving eight social categories: sex, education, race, ethnicity, age, religion, sexual orientation, and handicap/illness. Additional data were collected on the occurrence of 12 types of mistreatment: name-calling or insulting comments, deprivation of privileges other workers received, denial of promotions or raises, treatment as if nonexistent, set up for failure, deprivation of necessary training, unwanted sexual attention, physical attacks or threats, destruction of personal property, threat of firing, insulting phone calls, and any other form of mistreatment. Victims of mistreatment were asked to indicate how it affected their jobs and to describe what subsequent actions they would, or did, take following an incident of mistreatment, including talking about the incident with peers, filing a formal complaint, and confronting the perpetrator. Additional data were collected regarding job satisfaction, job autonomy, and the presence of post-traumatic stress. Demographic information includes age, race, sex, income, education, marital status, ethnicity, religion, handicap, and sexual orientation.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Not applicable.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
None
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
1994-03-10
Version History View help for Version History
2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
- Ehrlich, Howard J., and Barbara E.K. Larcom. Prejudice and Violence in the American Workplace, 1988-1991: Survey of an Eastern Corporation. ICPSR06135-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1993. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06135.v1
2005-11-04 On 2005-03-14 new files were added to one or more datasets. These files included additional setup files as well as one or more of the following: SAS program, SAS transport, SPSS portable, and Stata system files. The metadata record was revised 2005-11-04 to reflect these additions.
1994-03-10 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.