Title: Employee perceptions of workplace diversity in the manufacturing industry

Authors: Jack McCann; Suhanya Aravamudhan

Addresses: School of Business, Lincoln Memorial University, 6965 Cumberland Gap Parkway, Harrogate, TN 37752, UK ' LMU School of Business, 6965 Cumberland Gap Parkway, Harrogate, TN 37752, UK

Abstract: The purpose of this research was to assess workplace diversity as perceived by employees in today's manufacturing industry. This study included a total of 9,179 employees in the USA. A total of 65 surveys were used to calculate data for this study. A demographic survey and the workplace diversity survey and the reaction-to-diversity inventory were used to collect data from participants. The research addressed the following questions: What are the perceptions of manufacturing employee diversity as measured by the workplace diversity survey (WDS) in terms of work experience, age, ethnicity, gender, and education level? What are the scale value ranges (optimist, realist, and pessimists), as measured by the reaction-to-diversity (RTD) of employees in the manufacturing industry and in terms of work experience, age, ethnicity, gender, and education level?

Keywords: workplace diversity; reaction-to-diversity inventory; manufacturing industry; survey; USA; United States; employee perceptions; demographics; work experience; age; ethnicity; gender; education levels.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRDM.2013.055418

International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 2013 Vol.13 No.2/3, pp.224 - 239

Accepted: 31 Mar 2013
Published online: 19 Jul 2014 *

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