Exploring equality, justice and identity amongst host nationals and expatriates : Which human factors enable empowerment of Filipino aid workers? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
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Date
2011
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Massey University
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Abstract
Decent work includes capacity building between expatriate and their host
national aid workers. Optimizing empowerment to enable decent work amongst local
aid workers may depend on human factors, alongside wider poverty reduction efforts,
such as economic and political reform. This study sought to explore which of
local:expatriate numerical ratio, expatriate social dominance, strength of Filipino
identity and perceptions of workplace justice were predictive of different levels of
subjective empowerment amongst aid workers in one particular lower-income, highpoverty
country, the Philippines.
Responses to an online survey available in both English and Tagalog were
obtained from N = 98 employees of diverse locally operating aid organisations in the
Philippines during two months in early 2011 (29% male; 71% female; mean age = 35.5
years; all resident in the Philippines). The survey included measures of empowerment
(Spreitzer, 1995), estimated local:expatriate numerical ratio, perceived social
dominance (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994), social identity (Ellemers,
Kortekaas, & Ouwerkerk, 1999), justice (Niehoff & Moorman, 1993), social desirability
(D. G. Fischer & Fick, 1993), estimated local:expatriate salary ratio and a number of
demographic control measures (e.g., age, years of relevant work experience, level of
education). Respondents chose to participate by clicking a link in an email sent by seven
development sector practitioners who agreed to assist the researcher with distribution of
invitations to their staff or contact lists. The link opened an online survey hosted by
kwiksurveys.co.uk. Data was downloaded from the kwiksurveys.co.uk online database
and analysed by the researcher using SPSS.
Controlling for age and other demographic variables, the best predictor of
enabling empowerment was the fairness of personal interactions (interactional justice;
= .331). Interactional justice was also a significant predictor of the perceptions local
employees had specifically about their impact in their workplace ( = .295), although
this relationship was strongest when employees’ sense of self respect was weaker,
implying that a secure social identity may act as a buffer to consequences of injustice,
all other things being equal (interaction effect = -.233). Distributive justice predicted
iv
each of four distinct facets of empowerment (competence; meaning; self-determination
i.e., sense of control over one’s work; and impact, i.e., sense of making a difference in
one’s work).
The overall pattern of results suggests that justice plays a more significant role
than either dominance or identity in contributing to empowerment amongst Filipino aid
employees. Strikingly, fair interpersonal treatment may matter more than distributive
justice. Alongside the effects of justice, expatriate attitudes towards hierarchy and host
nationals’ sense of self respect are also significant factors, impacting empowerment in
different ways. Given potential distortions arising from unknown response rate and a
self-report methodology, further research, ideally with better control of sampling, is
suggested. Possible avenues include exploring whether interpersonal treatment may
matter more than distributive justice in collectivistic societies; whether self respect may
act as a buffer against the effects of injustice; and how social dominance operates
outside its traditional research contexts.
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Keywords
Employee relationships, Expatriates, Workplace relations, Workplace identity, Workplace justice, Workplace equality