How Included Are You in Your Workplace?: The Effects of Different Social Structures on Perceived Inclusion

While prior diversity management research has extensively focused on having a representative workforce in public organizations, recent discussions on racism and social equity have shed light on the importance of an inclusive work environment, where individuals feel integrated into organizations and involved in organizational processes. Perceived inclusion in the workplace, defined as the extent to which individuals perceive they are part of significant organizational processes, is the core theme of this dissertation. This study focuses on the perceived inclusion of academic scientists in the US. Inclusion of Scholars of Color (SOCs) and women in science is of particular importance given the low representation and retention of SOCs and women as well prolonged marginalization in academic science.This dissertation aims to understand what shapes perceived inclusion in the workplace by looking at how the demographic and social compositions of one’s social environment shape individuals’ perceptions of workplace inclusion. Focusing on race and gender, the dissertation recognizes the relative and contingent relationships among individuals and networks that affect perceived inclusion. To investigate, I ask two key questions, each focusing on different social structures and their interplay: 1. How do different aspects of social structure in networks (demographics, social network structural characteristics, social network compositional characteristics) influence perceived inclusion in the workplace? 2. How do individuals’ demographic attributes shape the impacts of social structures on workplace inclusion? To explore these questions, I draw from social identity theories, focusing on intergroup relations, and social capital theory to develop hypotheses. To investigate how social network structures shape inclusion in the workplace, I use a 2011 National Science Foundation-funded national survey of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) faculty in four science fields (biology, biochemistry, civil engineering, and mathematics) at diverse types of higher education institutions. I find that perceived inclusion is a function of social network structure, but the effects depend on the demographic characteristics of the individual and the network. I conclude this study with a discussion about the implications of findings for future research and diversity and inclusion policies.