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Promoting Sustainable Work Environments through Diversity and Inclusion

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 19338

Special Issue Editors

Department of Educational Science, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy
Interests: changes in work organisation; well-being and health of workers at risk; analysis of the organisational and psychosocial climate; consumer behavior and brand value; psychometric validation concerning measurement instruments in specific sectors; psychology of training and vocational guidance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Management, Kingston Business School, Kingston University, Kingston upon Thames, London KT2 7LB, UK
Interests: general and facet-specific organisational climates; diversity and inclusion; safety and communication climates in their mutual relationships and their influences on organisational outcomes; positive psychology and psychological capital; development and validation of psychometrics for the measurement of the above variables

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite an increased interest in developing more sustainable and inclusive work environments, the persistence of poor working conditions, such as low wages, unrealistic job demands, discrimination, inequality, and mismanagement behaviors, especially for people belonging to minority groups, calls for the need for further research into the mechanisms involved and to suggest suitable strategies for sustainable change.

Research in this context indicates that employees can feel excluded from networks of information and opportunity because of their actual or perceived membership in a minority or disfavored identity group. More specifically, employees develop perceptions about the organizations’ stance regarding diversity and inclusion, as well as developing their own personal opinions about the value of diversity in a company, which has implications for organizational effectiveness, work attitudes, and performance.

The problem is not in the heterogeneity of workforce itself—individuals and groups who perceive themselves as different from others because of their gender, age, sexual orientation, culture, religion, or job function—but in the urgency for business leaders and HR managers to deeply understand these processes and to engage a company’s workforce in ways that give a competitive advantage to the company whilst keeping a focus on employees’ wellbeing and sustainable development.

Following the increase of diversity in the contemporary workforce, the past 35 years have been marked by a significant growth in empirical research on the effects of diversity on individual-, group-, and organizational-level outcomes, revealing numerous benefits such as increased access to new consumer markets; innovation; improved corporate image; reduced legal liability; greater creativity, decision-making, and problem-solving abilities; work performance; and market share, just to name a few. However, more research is needed to understand how and to which extent employees’ perceptions of being more or less included and treated equally can have some important effects on their health; on their wellbeing; and, ultimately, on their work performance (in terms of work-related stress, job satisfaction, work engagement, mental health, work-life balance, turnover, absenteeism, and more).

In view of this, this Special Issue invites the submission of high-quality conceptual and empirical papers from different perspectives on current trends in D&I in organisational psychology. Specifically, contributions to be addressed in the Special Issue include but are not limited to how to build inclusive and sustainable work environments that have a beneficial impact at the individual and organisational level, through diversity management, inclusive practices, psychological and organisational climates, and individual differences.

Dr. Silvia Platania
Dr. Anna Paolillo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • diversity
  • inclusion
  • psychological climate
  • organisational climate
  • individual differences
  • empowerment
  • work performance
  • quality of life
  • well-being
  • health
  • sustainable work environment

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 555 KiB  
Article
Remote Working and Home Learning: How the Italian Academic Population Dealt with Changes Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown
by Alessandra Macciotta, Domenica Farinella, Giuseppina Dell’Aversana, Marco Fornili, Davide Petri, Laura Baglietto, Michela Baccini, Carmen Berrocal Montiel, Giuseppe Fiorentino, Gianluca Severi, Fulvio Ricceri, Maria Gabriella Campolo and Andreina Bruno
Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 8161; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14138161 - 04 Jul 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2169
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic introduced changes in people’s lives that affected their mental health. Our study aimed to explore the level of psychological distress in the academic population during the lockdown period and investigate its association with the new working or studying conditions. The [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic introduced changes in people’s lives that affected their mental health. Our study aimed to explore the level of psychological distress in the academic population during the lockdown period and investigate its association with the new working or studying conditions. The study sample included 9364 students and 2159 employees from five Italian universities from the study IO CONTO 2020. We applied linear regression models to investigate the association between home learning or remote working conditions and psychological distress, separately for students and employees. Psychological distress was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). In both students and employees, higher levels of distress were significantly associated with study/work–family conflicts, concerns about their future careers, and inadequacy of equipment; in employees, higher levels of distress were significantly associated with a lack of clarity on work objectives. Our results are in line with previous research on the impact of spaces and equipment in remote working/studying from home. Moreover, the study contributes to deepening the association between well-being and telework–family conflict, which in the literature is still equivocal. Practical implications require academic governance to promote sustainable environments both in remote and hybrid work conditions, by referring to a specific management by objectives approach. Full article
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19 pages, 1124 KiB  
Article
Organisational Climate, Diversity Climate and Job Dissatisfaction: A Multi-Group Analysis of High and Low Cynicism
by Silvia Platania, Martina Morando and Giuseppe Santisi
Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4458; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14084458 - 08 Apr 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3523
Abstract
Existing literature reported a shared awareness about the effects of the organisational climate (OC). The promotion of a positive OC, and a supportive and fair diversity climate, affected the workforce’s behaviour, especially performance and satisfaction. Scholars stated that the way employees respond to [...] Read more.
Existing literature reported a shared awareness about the effects of the organisational climate (OC). The promotion of a positive OC, and a supportive and fair diversity climate, affected the workforce’s behaviour, especially performance and satisfaction. Scholars stated that the way employees respond to dissatisfaction could be explained through the EVLN (Exit, Voice, Loyalty, Neglect) model. Two main aims were examined in our study: investigating the role of diversity climate in the mediation between the OC and all the dissatisfaction outcomes; and analysing the moderating effect that cynicism could have in this assumed model. Seven-hundred and twenty-one participants were enrolled to participate in this study. A structural equation model and multigroup analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Results showed that the diversity climate mediated the effect of OC on outcomes variables, both in negative and positive terms. Consistent with the literature, fairness and inclusion emerged as central in the impact that organisational policies could have on employees’ Loyalty and desire of Exit and Neglect. Moderation results indicated that high cynicism facilitated employees’ perception of exclusion and fairness towards their organisation, while low levels promoted Loyalty. Thus, the OC aimed at implementing a tolerance and sustainability culture is a core predictor variable. Full article
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10 pages, 459 KiB  
Article
Gender Differences in the Relationship between Work–Life Balance, Career Opportunities and General Health Perception
by Francesco Pace and Giulia Sciotto
Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 357; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14010357 - 29 Dec 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 8000
Abstract
Although gender equality is increasingly promoted both in the workplace and in society, and women have now fully entered the workforce, the issue of gender differences in relation to career advancement still seems open. Although gender roles no longer clearly define who is [...] Read more.
Although gender equality is increasingly promoted both in the workplace and in society, and women have now fully entered the workforce, the issue of gender differences in relation to career advancement still seems open. Although gender roles no longer clearly define who is responsible for home care and who is responsible for job duties, some research shows that the conflict between family and work life appears to be a greater problem for women than for men. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between career opportunities, work–life balance, and well-being perception separately in both female (n = 499) and male (n = 557) respondents in order to shed light on the role of gender. A multi-group analysis showed that the structural paths of the models differ by gender. For women, the relationships between career opportunities and work–life balance and between career opportunities and the perception of general health have significantly lower values compared to results from the group of men, while the perception of work–life balance affects well-being more significantly when compared to the male counterpart. Implications on the importance of the connection between career and the valorization of personal life duties are further discussed. Full article
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19 pages, 410 KiB  
Article
The Relationship between Inclusion Climate and Voice Behaviors beyond Social Exchange Obligation: The Role of Psychological Needs Satisfaction
by Anna Paolillo, Jorge Sinval, Sílvia A. Silva and Vittorio E. Scuderi
Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10252; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131810252 - 14 Sep 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2476
Abstract
Several studies have identified a work environment that promotes inclusiveness as a significant predictor of affiliative organizational citizenship behavior or OCB (such as helping), whereas not much research has focused on inclusion and challenging OCB (i.e., voice). Moreover, no previous studies have explored [...] Read more.
Several studies have identified a work environment that promotes inclusiveness as a significant predictor of affiliative organizational citizenship behavior or OCB (such as helping), whereas not much research has focused on inclusion and challenging OCB (i.e., voice). Moreover, no previous studies have explored the above-mentioned relationship in the light of self-determination theory (SDT), given that social exchange theory has traditionally been used as the main explanatory mechanism. Therefore, the aim of the present research was to test the mediating role of basic psychological needs satisfaction in the relationship between inclusion climate, promotive voice and prohibitive voice. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires administered to 246 employees of an international company operating in the service industry. Structural equation modelling was used to analyze the data utilizing R software. Results showed that satisfaction of the needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness partially mediated the relationship between inclusion climate and promotive and prohibitive voice, therefore supporting the idea that social exchange might not be the only determinant for employees to engage in voice behavior. Most importantly, those findings underline how a truly inclusive workplace needs to fulfil its employees’ basic needs of behaving volitionally, feeling effective and connecting meaningfully; this would motivate the workers to voice their suggestions and concerns. Full article

Review

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14 pages, 586 KiB  
Review
A Multidimensional Model of Abusive Supervision and Work Incivility
by Shahab Ali, Iftikhar Hussain, Farrukh Shahzad and Aneeqa Afaq
Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6505; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14116505 - 26 May 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2134
Abstract
The ubiquity of abusive supervision in the workplace, as well as the serious repercussions that come with it, has prompted scholars to investigate the numerous dynamics of this problem. This research examines the circumstances in which subordinates react to abusive supervisory behavior. The [...] Read more.
The ubiquity of abusive supervision in the workplace, as well as the serious repercussions that come with it, has prompted scholars to investigate the numerous dynamics of this problem. This research examines the circumstances in which subordinates react to abusive supervisory behavior. The study hypothesizes the negative impacts of abusive supervision associated with the impression of unfairness and politics in the workplace toward a subordinate deviant attitude based on current research and theoretical perspectives. According to the suggested paradigm, abusive supervision leads to subordinates’ work incivility by creating an unfair and politically thrilling atmosphere in the workplace. Furthermore, the study found that political skill and work incivility are linked to each other; workers who are experts in using political tactics are not supposed to turn toward work incivility while responding to the abusive behavior of the top management. The research was based on the social exchange theory and uncertainty management theory. Full article
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