Lifestyle Characteristics and Employment Discrimination: I Have Got Mine While You Are on Your Own

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2021

Department

School of Business, Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

While employees are legally protected against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and disability in the United States, employees in many jurisdictions have no protection against "lifestyle discrimination" based on characteristics or activities such as smoking, gambling, or social media usage. Changing legal and social norms, such as attitudes toward gender identity and legalization of marijuana, are affecting corporate policies regarding their employees' lifestyles. This study explores the attitudes of college students toward lifestyle discrimination, focusing on the possible impact of an individual's own perceived negative lifestyle characteristics on his or her tolerance for such discrimination by employers. Since such discrimination could work against them, people with more perceived negative lifestyle characteristics might be expected to be less accepting of lifestyle discrimination than their counterparts with fewer negative lifestyle characteristics; this study found the opposite result. This study discusses some theories of psychology that might explain certain employees' seemingly incongruent acceptance of lifestyle discrimination and identifies subjects of future research.

First Page

60

Last Page

77

Volume

1

Issue

1

ISSN

27697428

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