The role of communication content in an ethnically diverse organization

A research on the content of communication at work, job attitudes and unequal treatment was conducted in an ethnically diverse organization in the Netherlands comprising 504 ethnic majority and 113 ethnic minority employees. Ethnic minority employees experienced less person-related communication at work and perceived higher levels of unequal treatment of minorities than ethnic majority employees. However, compared to their ethnic majority colleagues, ethnic minority employees reported higher levels of work-related communication and more positive attitudes towards their job. Regression analyses revealed significant relations between communication content and employees’ job attitudes, with positive relations between both role-related and person-related communication and job satisfaction and positive relations between both organization-related and role-related communication and organizational identification.