Impact of workplace diversity on employee well-being : evidence from the South African marketing field

Abstract

The post-apartheid government in South Africa has spent a considerable amount of time implementing legislation that is aimed at encouraging a diverse country and involving previously disadvantaged individuals in economic activities. Surprisingly enough there has been limited research done on how diversity impacts the well-being of employees even knowing how diversity is important in South Africa. The fundamental question the research is attempting to answer is with all these changes in the workplace, how are they impacting the well-being of employees. This research shows that progress has been made in making the workplace more diverse in South Africa even at a smaller scale, and more importantly that this change in the workplace has impacted the well-being of employees. The quantitative research design targeted marketing professionals across all levels located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The electronic data gathering strategy elicited 172 valid responses which were assessed for validity using Exploratory Factor Analysis and reliability using Cronbach’s alpha. Hypothesis testing through correlation tests provided empirical evidence that proposes that there is a positive association between workplace diversity and employee well-being. Furthermore, age diversity and gender diversity can be used as variables to strengthen the association between workplace diversity and employee well-being.