Side-Effects of Representation: Measuring the Impact of Representative Hiring on Employment Discrimination Complaints

Abstract

Since 1978, the government has been implementing programs to combat the underrepresentation of minorities in federal employment. However, representative bureaucracy literature has done little to examine the impact these initiatives are having on the workplace. This article examines the relationship between changes in representation and discrimination complaints. Increases in the ratio of minority and female employees predict an increase in the rates of race and sex-discrimination complaints, respectively. Increases in the ratio of Black/African American and Asian employees predict an increase in race-discrimination complaints. However, the ratio of employees ages 40 or above did not predict changes in age discrimination.

Keywords

representative bureaucracy discrimination human resources employment racial threat critical mass

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