Self-esteem: Its mediating effects on the relationship between discrimination at work and employee organisation commitment and turn-over intention

Abstract

This study examined self-esteem as a mediator of the relationship between perceived discrimination, employee intentions to quit, and affective organisation commitment. A convenience sample of 414 South African employees were participants (female = 44.9%; black = 42.3%; 38.2% between the age of 26 and 35). Of the participants, 72.7% were from the private sector. The employees completed measures of self-esteem, perceived discrimination, and affective organisation commitment. We utilised Structural Equation Modelling to determine the direct and indirect effects of self-esteem on employee attitudes, affective organisation commitment, and intentions to quit. Findings indicate that high self-esteem scores predict affective organisation commitment by ameliorating a sense of work-place discrimination. This is influenced by race, ethnicity, and gender. By contrast, low self-esteem scores predicted high intensions to quit due to perceived work-place discrimination. As such, high self-esteem is important for the reduction of the perceived work-place discrimination effects on affective organisation commitment and for job retention among workers of a society with a history of race-based civil strife.

Keywords:

• intentions to quit
• organisation commitment
• perceived discrimination
• self-esteem