The effect of access to mentorship programs on men’s perceived procedural injustice and support for the diversity policy An empirical investigation

Abstract

In order to empower a diverse workforce, mentorship programs are implemented within the organizational context. The present paper investigated how access to a mentorship program, that focuses explicitly on empowering a diverse workforce, affects Dutch male employees' perceived procedural injustice of the diversity policy. Next to this, this paper examined whether perceived procedural injustice mediates the relationship between mentorship access and policy support in men and whether the outlined processes are different for men who have a high ability to take the perspective of others (perspective-taking), compared to men who are low in perspective-taking. A hypothetical scenario design was used in this study. The results indicated that the level of perceived procedural injustice of mentorship programs was not different for men who were granted access, compared to men who were not granted access. Also, perceived procedural injustice did not mediate the effect between access and policy support on different levels of perspective-taking. A higher perceived procedural injustice was, however, related to lower policy support in men. Together, these findings emphasize the importance of a high perceived procedural injustice as being related to lower diversity policy support in men. Lastly, findings do not support the idea that granting men access could be an effective strategy to heighten men's support of mentorship programs that are implemented to empower a diverse workforce.