DOI: 10.3886/icpsr06135.v1
title: Prejudice and Violence in the American Workplace, 1988-1991: Survey of an Eastern Corporation
title: Version 1

description: This study was conducted to examine the nature and extent of prejudice-based mistreatment of employees in the workplace. The researchers investigated the effects of mistreatment on employees' psychological well-being, interpersonal relationships, and perceptions of the work environment. Personal interviews were conducted with 327 first-line workers at an American corporation in the middle Atlantic states to determine workers' experiences of violence, discrimination, and prejudice and their responses to such victimization. Three dimensions of victimization were explored: personal victimization, prejudiced victimization, and co-victimization. Self-reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress were identified. Data were also collected to ascertain job satisfaction and job autonomy and to determine if these factors mitigate the effects of mistreatment. Demographic information includes age, race, sex, income, education, marital status, ethnicity, religion, handicap, and sexual orientation. The company involved in the research has been kept anonymous.
description: The site of this study was a corporation located in the middle Atlantic states. Approximately ten years prior to the study, the company had experienced difficulty implementing its affirmative action plan. Since then, the company had aggressively recruited African Americans and women of any background. This study was undertaken to examine the nature and extent of intergroup tensions, prejudice-based mistreatment, conflict, and ethnoviolence in the workplace and how these experiences affect psychological well-being, interpersonal relationships, perceptions of the work environment, and role performance of workers and managers and the various social groups to which they belong.
description: The unidentified corporation employed over 4,300 people and had 23 work sites in the local metropolitan area. The study was conducted at its two largest work sites, which are referred to by the pseudonyms Gopher and Blucher. Interviews with 327 employees at the work sites were conducted by the researchers and eight other trained interviewers. The data collection instrument included both structured and open-ended questions. Three dimensions of victimization were explored: personal victimization, prejudiced victimization, and co-victimization. Self-reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress were identified. Data were also collected to ascertain job satisfaction and job autonomy and to determine if these factors mitigate the effects of mistreatment. Respondents were limited to discussing incidents occurring in the last three years and were asked to describe their own personal experiences with mistreatment as well as instances of mistreatment involving coworkers.
description: Data were collected on the frequency of prejudice-based mistreatment involving eight social categories: sex, education, race, ethnicity, age, religion, sexual orientation, and handicap/illness. Additional data were collected on the occurrence of 12 types of mistreatment: name-calling or insulting comments, deprivation of privileges other workers received, denial of promotions or raises, treatment as if nonexistent, set up for failure, deprivation of necessary training, unwanted sexual attention, physical attacks or threats, destruction of personal property, threat of firing, insulting phone calls, and any other form of mistreatment. Victims of mistreatment were asked to indicate how it affected their jobs and to describe what subsequent actions they would, or did, take following an incident of mistreatment, including talking about the incident with peers, filing a formal complaint, and confronting the perpetrator. Additional data were collected regarding job satisfaction, job autonomy, and the presence of post-traumatic stress. Demographic information includes age, race, sex, income, education, marital status, ethnicity, religion, handicap, and sexual orientation.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None
description: Individuals were selected for the study through cluster sampling. Workers were randomly selected from the company's two largest work sites. Personnel records were reviewed to identify each individual's coworkers. The researchers attempted to interview the selected individual and all of her/his coworkers.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Survey Response Raw Data DS2: SPSS Export File DS3: SAS Data Definition Statements DS4: User Guide
description: Employees at the two largest work sites of a corporation in the middle Atlantic states.