Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Legislation and Small Businesses: Real Hazard or Red Herring?

This paper examines the impact of state Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) legislation on the mortality rates of small businesses in 19 U.S. industries, using a database maintained by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Extant strategic human resource management literature tends explicitly or im...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of small business and entrepreneurship Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 93 - 102
Main Authors Rudin, Joel P., Wingham, Dianne W., Weaver, K. Mark
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Regina Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2004
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Affirmative action
Business failures
Human resource management
Legislation
Public policy
Small business
United States > US
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Summary:This paper examines the impact of state Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) legislation on the mortality rates of small businesses in 19 U.S. industries, using a database maintained by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Extant strategic human resource management literature tends explicitly or implicitly to discount the relative importance of EEO compliance as a function of Human Resource Management responsibilities. However, our cross-sectional regression analysis finds a positive impact of state EEO legislation on the likelihood of organizational survival. State EEO legislation may require small businesses to engage in fair employment practices that increase their vitality. Alternatively, state EEO legislation may be one part of a package of state policies that have the net effect of reducing small business mortality rates.
ISSN:0827-6331
2169-2610
DOI:10.1080/08276331.2004.10593314