JOURNAL OF BUSINESS DIVERSITY

The Role of Work Group Status as a Contextual Variable in Relational

Demography Research

Author(s): Bryan S. Schaffer, Christine M. Riordan

Citation: Bryan S. Schaffer, Christine M. Riordan, (2011) "The Role of Work Group Status as a Contextual Variable in Relational Demography Research," Journal of Business Diversity, Vol.11, Iss. 1, pp. 19 - 32

Article Type: Research paper

Publisher: North American Business Press

Abstract:

In relational demography research, hypotheses predicting unfavorable effects for demographic

dissimilarity have not always been supported. A need exists for the identification of contextual variables

that further specify the conditions under which such effects would occur. Work group status is introduced

here as an important moderator variable. Three theoretical premises support its use: Social identity and

self-categorization theories; Common Ingroup Identity Model; and, downward comparison theory. The

general proposition is that as work group status increases, the effects of dissimilarity will be mitigated

because status itself (as opposed to demographics) is likely to become the primary delimiter of ingroupoutgroup

classifications.