Abstract
Despite various legislation and regulations promulgated by government institutions throughout the world, perceived workplace discrimination continues to remain a challenge both employees and employers contend with on a frequent basis. Established on imposing systematic elements - discrimination facilitates the social exclusion of certain groups from participating in economic, social, political, cultural, or any other forms of public life. Of the multiple factors that assume a prevalent role in perpetuating this phenomenon, gender has been identified as a significant contributor. The purpose of the study was therefore to investigate the implications of discrimination within the workplace, particularly the experiences articulated by women in comparison to their male counterparts. Furthermore, the consequences of this on the individual’s level of well-being were explored. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was employed. The Tilburg Scale for Work Identity Commitment and Reconsideration of Commitment (TWIS-CRC), the Gender Identity Measure for the Experiences @ Work Project, the Chronic Work Discrimination and Harassment Scale, the Satisfaction with Life measure, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, as well as the Utrecht Burnout Scale were administered to participants (n = 845) across organisations in South Africa and The Netherlands. The results obtained from the multi-group structural equation model (SEM) presented a negative relationship between discrimination and work identity (General), as well as discrimination and gender identity. Whereas, a positive relationship was observed between discrimination and work identity (ROC), as well as discrimination and burnout. The results suggest that gender did not present statistically significant difference in moderating between discrimination and well-being despite the continuous gender disparity discourse. The influence of discrimination on burnout, particularly on the Black South African female population was the highest across the groups, highlighting the need for organisations to promote Mental Health and Wellness programmes to reduce the stigma of mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and burnout.
M.Com. (Industrial Psychology)