A Review of Minority Stress Related to Employees’ Demographics and the Development of an Intersectional Framework for Their Coping Strategies in the Workplace

Köllen, Thomas (2014). A Review of Minority Stress Related to Employees’ Demographics and the Development of an Intersectional Framework for Their Coping Strategies in the Workplace. In: Perrewé, Pamela L.; Rosen, Christopher C.; Halbesleben, Jonathon R. B. (eds.) The Role of Demographics in Occupational Stress and Well Being. Research in Occupational Stress and Well-being: Vol. 12 (pp. 41-82). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing 10.1108/s1479-355520140000012000

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Every employee embodies manifestations of every demographic that attach to him or her different minority and majority statuses at the same time. As these statuses are often related to organizational hierarchies, employees frequently hold positions of dominance and subordination at the same time. Thus, a given individual’s coping strategies (or coping behavior) in terms of minority stress due to organizational processes of hierarchization, marginalization, and discrimination, are very often a simultaneous coping in terms of more than one demographic. Research on minority stress mostly focuses on single demographics representing only single facets of workforce diversity. By integrating the demographics of age, disability status, nationality, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, and religion into one framework, the intersectional model proposed in this chapter broadens the perspective on minorities and related minority stress in the workplace. It is shown that coping with minority stress because of one demographic must always be interpreted in relation to the other demographics. The manifestation of one demographic can limit or broaden one’s coping resources for coping with minority stress because of another dimension. Thus, the manifestation of one demographic can determine the coping opportunities and coping behavior one applies to situations because of the minority status of another demographic. This coping behavior can include disclosure decisions about invisible demographics. Therefore, organizational interventions aiming to create a supportive workplace environment and equal opportunities for every employee (e.g., diversity management approaches) should include more demographics instead of focusing only on few.

Item Type:

Book Section (Book Chapter)

Division/Institute:

03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Department of Business Management > Institute of Organization and Human Resource Management > Human Resource Management

UniBE Contributor:

Köllen, Thomas

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
600 Technology > 650 Management & public relations

ISSN:

1479-3555

ISBN:

978-1-78350-647-7

Series:

Research in Occupational Stress and Well-being

Publisher:

Emerald Group Publishing

Language:

English

Submitter:

Thomas Köllen

Date Deposited:

25 Jun 2018 16:00

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:10

Publisher DOI:

10.1108/s1479-355520140000012000

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Minority stress, coping resources, intersectionality, stigma, workforce diversity, diversity management

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.111720

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/111720

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