Public reactions to instances of workplace gender discrimination. 2023

Benedikt Schnurr, and Christoph Fuchs
TUM School of Management, Technical University of Munich.

The number of people witnessing or experiencing gender discrimination at work is still high around the globe. While the existing literature has investigated potential mechanisms underlying gender discrimination and the consequences of experiencing gender discrimination at work, it remains unclear how third-party observers-as opposed to employees or coworkers-react to specific instances of workplace gender discrimination. The results of six experiments demonstrate that (a) people in general judge organizational decisions that discriminate against individual male (vs. female) workers as more legitimate and (b) this difference in legitimacy judgments is significantly greater among women than men. This discrepancy in legitimacy judgments occurs because women (more than men) consider the collective situation of female and male workers when judging the legitimacy of organizational decisions that discriminate against individual workers based on gender. These findings document how group-level concerns shape people's legitimacy judgments of organizational decisions discriminating against individuals and equip organizations and policymakers with a better understanding of people's polarized opinions regarding gender discrimination at the workplace. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007600 Judgment The process of discovering or asserting an objective or intrinsic relation between two objects or concepts; a faculty or power that enables a person to make judgments; the process of bringing to light and asserting the implicit meaning of a concept; a critical evaluation of a person or situation. Judgement,Judgements,Judgments
D008297 Male Males
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D017132 Workplace Place or physical location of work or employment. Job Site,Work Location,Work Place,Work-Site,Worksite,Job Sites,Location, Work,Work Locations,Work Places,Work Site,Work-Sites,Workplaces,Worksites
D063507 Sexism Prejudice or discrimination based on gender or behavior or attitudes that foster stereotyped social roles based on gender. Gender Bias,Gender Discrimination,Sex Bias,Sexual Discrimination,Gender Issues,Sex Discrimination,Bias, Gender,Bias, Sex,Discrimination, Gender,Discrimination, Sex,Discrimination, Sexual

Related Publications

Benedikt Schnurr, and Christoph Fuchs
February 2021, Europe's journal of psychology,
Benedikt Schnurr, and Christoph Fuchs
February 2024, Bioethics,
Benedikt Schnurr, and Christoph Fuchs
May 2013, Sex roles,
Benedikt Schnurr, and Christoph Fuchs
January 2020, PloS one,
Benedikt Schnurr, and Christoph Fuchs
January 2021, SAGE open nursing,
Benedikt Schnurr, and Christoph Fuchs
January 1992, Rutgers law review,
Benedikt Schnurr, and Christoph Fuchs
September 2023, Journal of clinical nursing,
Benedikt Schnurr, and Christoph Fuchs
July 2011, Human resources for health,
Benedikt Schnurr, and Christoph Fuchs
January 2014, BioMed research international,
Benedikt Schnurr, and Christoph Fuchs
January 2018, PloS one,
Copied contents to your clipboard!