What Lies Beneath: How Paranoid Cognition Explains the Relations Between Transgender Employees\u27 Perceptions of Discrimination at Work and their Job Attitudes and Wellbeing

With the recent public gender transitions of celebrities like Caitlin Jenner, greater visibility of transgender characters on television (e.g., Transparent), and controversial laws enacted in some U.S. states and cities banning transgender employees from accessing bathrooms that align with their gender identities, issues of gender expression have been thrust into the national spotlight. In order to promote greater awareness and acceptance of transgender people, greater knowledge of their life experiences is needed. Adding to a small, but growing, body of research on the work experiences of transgender individuals, the goal of the present study is to examine the cognitive processes that shape these individuals\u27 experiences in the workplace. Drawing on existing theory and research on paranoia, we examine the role of paranoid cognition, defined by hypervigilance, rumination, and sinister attributional tendencies, in explaining the relations between transgender employees\u27 perceptions of workplace discrimination and their job attitudes and psychological wellbeing. Our findings suggest that perceptions of transgender discrimination in the workplace are positively related to paranoid cognition at work; paranoid cognition is positively related to transgender employees\u27 turnover intentions and emotional exhaustion and negatively related to their job satisfaction; and paranoid cognition at work mediates the relations between perceptions of discrimination and each of these outcomes. We conclude by discussing the implications of our results, as well as avenues for future research on the work experiences of transgender employees

Diversity Issues for an Aging Workforce: A Lifespan Intersectionality Approach

In this chapter we will take up the topic of age and diversity in the workplace. Our emphasis is on examining diversity in terms of what are generally considered stigmatized minority identities. We will review the literature surrounding both visible (gender, race, social class) and concealable (LGBTQ) stigmatized minority identities and the issues that arise at the intersection of these and age. That is, we will address how age and other stigmatized identities can combine to jointly shape the experiences of employees across their work lives. The chapter will open with an introduction to our topic and then provide an overview of the lifespan and intersectionality perspectives. We will then review the literature regarding each of the minority identities and its intersection with age. For each, we will begin by briefly describing cross-classified demographics to give a sense of scope, and then describe the conditions that render an identity more salient, the likely stereotypes that are activated in such situations, and the effects of these situations on the work experiences of those possessing a given identity. We conclude by discussing practical recommendations for employers who seek to promote inclusivity using an intersectional lens

The Importance of Being “Me”: The Relation Between Authentic IdentityExpression and Transgender Employees’ Work-RelatedAttitudes and Experiences

The present research examined the relation between authentic identity expression and transgender employees’ work-related attitudes and experiences. Drawing on Kernis’ (2003) theoretical conceptualization of authenticity and expanding on current workplace identity management research, we predicted that employees who had taken steps to reduce the discrepancy between their inner gender identities and their outward manifestations of gender would report more positive job attitudes and workplace experiences, in part because the reduction of this discrepancy is related to greater feelings of authenticity. In Study 1, we found that the extent to which one has transitioned was related to higher job satisfaction and perceived person-organization (P-O) fit and lower perceived discrimination. In Study 2, we replicate and extend these results by showing that the extent to which employees felt that others at work perceived them in a manner consistent with how they perceived themselves (relational authenticity) mediated the relations between extent of transition and all 3 of these outcomes. However, perceptions of alignment between one’s felt and expressed identity (action authenticity) only mediated this link for job satisfaction. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our results, as well as avenues for future research on authenticity in the workplace

Being present and thankful: a multi-study investigation of mindfulness, gratitude, and employee helping behavior

Gratitude plays an integral role in promoting helping behavior at work. Thus, cultivating employees' experiences of gratitude represents an important imperative in modern organizations that rely on teamwork and collaboration to achieve organizational goals. Yet, today's workplace presents a complex array of demands that make it difficult for employees to fully attend to and appreciate the various benefits they receive at work. As such, gratitude is difficult for employers to promote and for employees to experience. Despite these observations, the role of attention and awareness in facilitating employees' feelings of gratitude is largely overlooked in the extant literature. In this study, we examined whether one notable form of present moment attention, mindfulness, may promote helping behavior by stimulating the positive, other-oriented emotion of gratitude. Across two experimental studies, a semiweekly, multisource diary study, and a 10-day experience sampling investigation, we found converging evidence for a serial mediation model in which state mindfulness, via positive affect and perspective taking, prompts greater levels of gratitude, prosocial motivation, and, in turn, helping behavior at work. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our investigation, as well as avenues for the future research