Title: Discrimination at work: effects on job satisfaction and organisational commitment. An empirical study of the influence of perceived discrimination on work-related behaviours among people with and without a migration background

Authors: Muhammed-Talha Topcu; Augustin Suessmair

Addresses: MSH Medical School Hamburg, Am Kaiserkai 1, 20457 Hamburg, Germany ' Leuphana Universitaet Lueneburg, Universitaetsallee 1, 21335 Lueneburg, Germany

Abstract: People with a migrant background constitute a significant part of German population. Their perceived discrimination at workplace is under-researched. This paper addresses the social factors, focusing on the perceived discrimination against migrants and persons in next generations with a migration background in Germany and supplements the rich body of literature on the economic aspects of immigration, e.g., Bhagwati and Srinivasan (1983), Borjas (1995), West (2011), and Bansak et al. (2015). An online survey with 239 participants was conducted. Results show that people with a migration background experience more discrimination than people without a migration background. However, people with a migration background are not per se less satisfied at work or less committed to their organisation. In addition, discrimination was found to predict lower job satisfaction and lower organisational commitment. Migration background is moderating the effect, while this was absent for job satisfaction. Further exploratory analyses show a significant mediation of the effect of migration background on job satisfaction through perceived discrimination.

Keywords: discrimination; workplace; migration background; Germany; job satisfaction; organisational commitment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2025.148942

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2025 Vol.29 No.6, pp.441 - 464

Received: 02 May 2022
Accepted: 19 Oct 2022
Published online: 06 Oct 2025 *

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