RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN EMPLOYEE RETENTION: ARE DIVERSITY CLIMATE PERCEPTIONS THE KEY?

• Published in: Personnel psychology Vol. 60; no. 1; pp. 35 - 62
• Main Authors: McKAY, PATRICK F., AVERY, DEREK R., TONIDANDEL, SCOTT, MORRIS, MARK A., HERNANDEZ, MORELA, HEBL, MICHELLE R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.03.2007; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Cultural Activities; Employees; Employment; Ethnic Groups; Ethnicity; Females; Gender differences; Gender Discrimination; Gender Issues; Group Membership; Hispanic Americans; Hypotheses; Individual Differences; Influence; Labor Turnover; Males; Minority & ethnic groups; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Perceptions; Race relations; Racial differences; Racial discrimination; Racial Identification; Racial identity; Racial Relations; Resistance (Psychology); Retailing industry; Retention; Sex discrimination; Social Status; Stereotypes; Studies; White people; Work environment; Workplace diversity; United States > US
• ISSN: 0031-5826; 1744-6570
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-6570.2007.00064.x

Given considerable racial differences in voluntary turnover (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006, Table 28), the present study examined the influence of diversity climate perceptions on turnover intentions among managerial employees in a national retail organization. The authors hypothesized that pro‐diversity work climate perceptions would correlate most negatively with turnover intentions among Blacks, followed in order of strength by Hispanics and Whites (Hypothesis 1), and that organizational commitment would mediate these interactive effects of race and diversity climate perceptions on turnover intentions 
(Hypothesis 2). Results from a sample of 5,370 managers partially supported both hypotheses, as findings were strongest among Blacks. Contrary to the hypotheses, however, White men and women exhibited slightly stronger effects than Hispanic personnel.