Research co-authored by Barjinder Singh, associate professor of management, finds that employees’ experiences in their communities can shape psychological safety at work and their intent to stay with an organization.
A new study co-authored by Barjinder Singh, associate professor of management in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, finds that employees’ experiences outside the workplace can affect how they feel at work and whether they intend to stay with their employer.
The research, “Community diversity climate and employee retention: roles of organizational diversity climate and psychological safety,” looks at how perceptions of inclusion and acceptance in residential communities carry into the workplace.
Using survey responses from 151 employees at a U.S.-based manufacturing company, the researchers found that employees who viewed their communities as more inclusive reported greater psychological safety at work. That sense of psychological safety not only inspires the confidence to express the one’s true self at work but is also linked to a stronger intent to stay with their organization.
Key findings:
- Community experiences carry into the workplace. Employees who perceived their communities as more inclusive reported greater psychological safety at work.
- Psychological safety is linked to retention. Employees who felt psychologically safe reported stronger intent to stay.
- Support from inclusive communities may also help when workplaces are perceived as less supportive. The connection between community inclusion and psychological safety was strongest among employees who viewed their organization’s diversity climate as less supportive.
The research is also part of discussions in Singh’s Organizational Behavior and DEI courses at Elon.
“It serves as a great way to help students understand that employees’ perceptions regarding organizational culture and inclusion are not confined to the workplace alone but are shaped by larger societal contexts,” Singh said. “I incorporate these discussions in my classroom to encourage students to think about how leaders can create psychologically safe environments and how organizations can engage with communities to support inclusion and employee retention.”
The study was co-authored with Sarthak Singh of Sheldon B. Lubar College of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and T.T. Selvarajan of the College of Business and Economics at California State University, East Bay and published in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.
Singh, who joined Elon in 2017, teaches courses in organizational behavior, human resource management and business ethics. His research has appeared in leading journals, including the Journal of Organizational Behavior, the Journal of Business Ethics and Human Resource Management.