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All employees benefit: arguments that help increase support for affirmative action in academic careers

Author

Listed:
  • Nikola Komlenac

    (Medical University of Innsbruck)

  • Liora Neugebauer

    (Medical University of Innsbruck)

  • Jennifer Birke

    (Medical University of Innsbruck)

  • Margarethe Hochleitner

    (Medical University of Innsbruck)

Abstract

The goal of affirmative action programs is to establish equal opportunities for women and men. Past research has focused on one type of affirmative action, namely quotas, and found that the implementation of quotas is often met by a backlash from employees. The current study adds to the literature by investigating fairness and importance perceptions of career development programs offered only to women at Austrian universities or the Austrian Science Fund. Using the model of attitudes toward affirmative action programs the current experimental study tested whether providing participants with information about the benefits (gain-message condition) or costs (loss-message condition) of the implementation of affirmative action programs influenced participants’ perceptions of affirmative action programs. In the current online study, the 510 participants (52.5% cisgender women and 47.5% cisgender men; Mage = 29.5, SD = 9.5) from German-speaking countries in Europe gave on average higher fairness and importance ratings to career development programs offered to all employees than to such programs offered specifically to women. Men in the gain-message condition and loss-message condition gave higher fairness ratings to affirmative action programs than did men in the control condition (i.e., men who read a text that gave no justification for the implementation of affirmative action programs). Men in the gain-message condition also gave higher importance ratings to affirmative action programs than did men in the control condition. Women were not influenced in their ratings by the justification of the implementation of affirmative action programs. Nevertheless, women’s perceptions of affirmative action programs were more favorable than men’s. When implementing affirmative action programs in organizations, providing information that explains why affirmative action is needed and how all employees benefit therefrom can increase support from men who, as seen from past research, are known to be most opposed to affirmative action.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikola Komlenac & Liora Neugebauer & Jennifer Birke & Margarethe Hochleitner, 2023. "All employees benefit: arguments that help increase support for affirmative action in academic careers," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-02508-x
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-02508-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vincent Larivière & Chaoqun Ni & Yves Gingras & Blaise Cronin & Cassidy R. Sugimoto, 2013. "Bibliometrics: Global gender disparities in science," Nature, Nature, vol. 504(7479), pages 211-213, December.
    2. Matthew B. Ross & Britta M. Glennon & Raviv Murciano-Goroff & Enrico G. Berkes & Bruce A. Weinberg & Julia I. Lane, 2022. "Women are credited less in science than men," Nature, Nature, vol. 608(7921), pages 135-145, August.
    3. Nikola Komlenac & Lisa Stockinger & Margarethe Hochleitner, 2022. "Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviors Moderate Associations between Work Stress and Exhaustion: Testing the Job Demands–Resources Model in Academic Staff at an Austrian Medical University," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-20, May.
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