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Sex and Racial Differences in Unfairness in the Workplace

Alexia Pitter, Kaylyn Williams, Moniest Cardell

April 10, 2023

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Prejudice impacts entire people and communities. The ramifications of discrimination are

significant on an institutional and individual level. Race, gender, sexuality, religion and the

intersectionality of these identities influence how we are perceived and, often, how we are

treated. Understanding the experiences of others and the way that other’s identities are perceived

combats discriminatory thought. In this study, researchers examine the effects of employees’ race

and gender on perceptions of unfairness in the workplace. Black and White men and women are

asked to indicate their perceptions on a likert scale. The objective of this study is to answer the

research question: Is there an effect of sex, gender, and the interaction of sex and gender, on

perceived unfairness in this sample? The conductor of the study determined a null hypothesis

stating that there is no effect of sex, race, or the interaction of sex and race on employee’s

perceptions of unfairness. The alternative hypothesis is that there is an effect of sex, race, or the

interaction of sex and race on employee’s perceptions of unfairness.

For the purpose of this research study, the data consists of responses on perceptions of

unfairness from Black and white men and women. An industrial/organizational psychologist

collected this data by administering a survey to five Black men, five Black women, five white

men, and five white women, which totals up to 20 participants in this study that have experience

in the workplace. There are two independent variables within this study, sex and race, and both

of these concepts are categorical variables. The independent variables also have two levels each.

For sex, the two levels are male or female and for race, the two levels are Black or white. The

dependent variable, perceptions of unfairness, is a continuous variable and participants can report

their perceptions of unfairness within the workplace through a Likert scale. The Likert scale

ranges from 0 (totally fair) to 10 (totally unfair).

The results of this study represent variation between the participants’ responses on
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fairness in the workplace based on their sex or race. The mean perception of unfairness from

Black women in this study (M=9.8, SD= 1.483240) is higher than the mean perception of

unfairness from the white women in this study (M=7.2, SD= 0.836660). However, the mean

perception of unfairness from the white men in this study (M=1.6, SD= 1.140175) is lower than

the mean perception of unfairness from the Black men in this study (M=7.2, SD=1.923538), as

shown in Table 1. The researchers conducted a Two-way independent samples ANOVA to assess

if sex, gender, or the interaction of sex and gender has an effect on perceptions of unfairness in

the workplace. In order to run the Two-way independent samples ANOVA, the assumptions of

homogeneity of variances, normality of residuals, and independence of observations between and

within groups must be met. The assumption of independence of observations is met due to the

fact that the participants in this study are independent and not related to each other. The

assumption of homogeneity of variances is met after a Levene’s Test results in a p-value of

0.5617. From the output value, the p-value is not less than the significance level of 0.05, which

means that there is no evidence to suggest that the variance across groups is statistically

significantly different. The assumption of normality of residuals is met after a Shapiro-Wilk test

(W=0.98, p= 0.883), found no indication that normality was violated. After conducting a

Two-way independent samples ANOVA, the results revealed a statistically significant interaction

effect between sex and race on perceptions of unfairness in the workplace, F(2,16)=5.696, p<.05,

as shown in Figure 2. The results also reveal that there is a statistically significant main effect of

sex on perceptions of unfairness, F(1,16)= 42.557, p<.05, and a statistically significant main

effect of race on perceptions of unfairness, F(1,16)=42.557, p<.05. A Tukey HSD test is used to

determine that the only pairwise comparison that did not have a statistically significant difference

at the .05 level of significance is Black males and white females, as depicted in Figure 1.
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The null hypothesis is rejected at the .05 level of significance, suggesting that the data

provides convincing evidence that the effect of sex, race, and the interaction of sex and race has

an impact on perceptions of unfairness in the workplace. These results reveal that the Black

women in this sample feel they are treated most unfairly in the workplace while the white men in

this sample feel that they are treated fairly in the workplace on average. In addition, Black men

and white women in this sample reported that, on average, they feel the same amount of

unfairness in the workplace. Although results show there is an effect of sex and race on

employee’s perceptions of unfairness, there are limitations within this research. Limitations,

such as type of workplace, hierarchy within the workplace, and the way unfairness is

operationalized, may skew the data. In the future, it is important to note the type of workplace,

whether or not the workplace is women-owned, Black-owned, or men-owned, and it is of equal

importance to identify how unfairness is defined in that workplace.

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Figure 1

Participants Perceptions of Unfairness

Note: The above graph depicts the mean perceptions of unfairness from different groups. The

median mean difference for Black women is 10, Black males is 7.2 as is white females, and

white males is 3. There are no significant outliers in this boxplot.

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Figure 2

Interaction Effects of Sex and Race on Perceptions of Unfairness

Note: The above graph depicts the interaction effects of sex and race. Sex and race have an effect

on perception of unfairness in the workplace. Women from both races felt that they experienced

more unfairness in the workplace than their male counterparts.

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Table 1

Descriptive Statistics for Interaction Effect of Sex and Race (N=20)

Sex Race M SD

Male Black 7.2 1.923538

White 1.6 1.140175

Female Black 9.8 1.483240

White 7.2 0.836660

Note: The above table depicts the descriptive statistics of the interaction effects of sex and race

on perceptions of unfairness in the workplace. On average, Black women in this sample reported

higher answers on the Likert scale and white men in this sample reported lower answers on the

Likert scale. Black men and white women reported about the same level of unfairness in the

workplace on the Likert scale.