Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Michelle Ross

Abstract

Women of color are diminishing from the STEM workforce in spite of organizational efforts to increase diverse representation. A diverse workforce is a key competitive advantage for many STEM innovations, making this a topic of interest amongst workplace scholars. Researchers have pointed to relative contributors, such as barriers to inclusion and social identity threats for minority women in STEM. However, scholars have not yet uncovered the effect of global satisfaction on inclusion and turnover intentions for minority women within these workplaces. The purpose of this study was to evaluate organizational inclusion differences by sex and minority status, review organizational inclusion to predict turnover intentions, and assess global satisfaction as a mediator. Social identity theory (SIT) was the theoretical framework for the study’s interpretations. A secondary analysis was conducted with a cross-section of 2019 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey responses (N =28,535) from three STEM workplaces. A comparative analysis showed mean differences between minority women and other groups using ANOVA (F(3, 20711) = 34.01, p < .001) and Kruskal-Wallis (H(3) = 80.82, p = .0001). A binary logistic regression showed organizational inclusion was a significant predictor of turnover intentions for minority women within STEM workplaces, with turnover intentions decreasing by 67.6% for every unit of organizational inclusion. Global satisfaction was also found to fully mediate organizational inclusion and turnover intentions. These findings have implications for SIT’s group behavior process, for industrial-organizational psychology by broadening inclusion research, and for promoting positive social change by fostering inclusive work environments within STEM.

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