Workplace Dignity An Empirical Exploration and Micro Narrative Content Analysis

Abstract

Under the influence of neoliberal ideology, the modern employment organization today often challenges the dignity of its workforce. Thus, the relevance of the humanistic paradigm is critical for today's leaders, organizations, and governments to create a more human-centred economy. It demands a different framework for organizing groups, organizations and society to protect human dignity and promote human flourishing and well-being. This study endeavours to augment emerging scholarship on the dignity of employees in organizations. Dignity conversations have established firm grounds in various disciplines and, recently, management literature; however, little is known about its relevance and significance in the workplace. Drawing on an overarching framework of workplace dignity theory, the present study examines the internal and external factors affecting dignity in the workplace. Specifically, I outline the significance of core self-evaluations, a factor at the individual level, transformational leadership at the group level and perceived overall justice at the organizational level in conceptualizing their impact on the dignity of employees at work. While extant literature has assessed the effects of all these constructs on varied employee attitudes and behaviours, I invoke the 'dignity paradigm' in the broader domain of organizational relationships to determine their role in creating dignified workplaces. A comprehensive model with the potential antecedents and outcomes of workplace dignity and moderating conditions is attempted and tested. Utilizing the temporal separation technique, the data has been collected in three phases by segmenting the survey in three distinct parts. Results from a sample of 512 working executives reveal that overall justice perceptions influence the workplace dignity of the workforce, which in turn leads to an increase in employee voice behaviours and a decrease in their turnover intentions. Further, the study results also support the moderating role of psychological safety climate in changing the magnitude of the relationship between workplace dignity and employee voice behaviours. In sum, strong evidence is found to support that organizations that provide a fair and psychologically safe climate to employees, foster a more dignified and vocal workforce with lesser intentions to quit. Furthermore, a supplementary content analysis of 168 responses from working executives from across diverse industries, captures and examines the variety in nature of dignity (or lack thereof) Workplace Dignity: An Empirical Exploration and Micro-Narrative Content Analysis experiences in corporate India. It integrates and brings forth a precise understanding of workplace dignity in Indian organizations by analyzing the array of dignity experiences spread across significant employment domains. The results reveal that two broad categories of dignity experiences are reported by Indian employees: dignity undermined experiences and dignity supported experiences. These overarching experiences are systematically classified further under seven categories: workplace conduct, recognition, organizational practices, working conditions, workplace participation, organizational culture and values, and career development. Finally, the content analysis unveils a typology of dignity experiences: dignity undermined experiences and dignity supported experiences. These findings contribute to the existing workplace dignity literature. The implications and potential of this framework for research and practice are discussed."