The role of intersectionality in exploring the asymmetrical effects of demographic dissimiliarity on employees

By linking intersectionality to relational demography, this study examines the effects of different gender and racial contexts on overall satisfaction with job and organization among four employee groups in U.S. federal agencies: minority women, minority men, White women, and White men. As opposed to previous research that treated each demographic identity as an independent category, this study considers the intersection of privileged and marginalized identities to help illuminate varying organizational experiences among different employee groups. The analyses find that all four employee groups react negatively to an increased minority percentage and positively to an increased female percentage in their organizations. In general, Whites are affected by gender and racial dissimilarity to a greater extent than minorities. However, the extent to which gender and racial dissimilarity have significant impacts differs between Whites and minority women, but not between White women and minority men. This study discusses the implications of these findings and calls for a consideration of intersectionality in relational demography research.