Perceived Treatment Discrimination toward Sexual Minorities

Abstract

The Perceived Treatment Discrimination toward Sexual Minorities scale is a specialized, nine-item psychometric instrument developed primarily by S. B. Button. Its core function is to quantify the subjective experience of organizational fairness, affirmation, and equitable treatment among employees who identify as sexual minorities, specifically focusing on gay men and lesbians.

The measure assesses perceptions across critical organizational dimensions, including the perceived commitment of organizational leadership, the fairness of formal policies concerning promotions and benefits, and the general social climate regarding same-sex relationships within the workplace. This instrument is crucial for researchers and organizational practitioners aiming to quantify systemic bias and understand the impact of organizational climate on the well-being and professional outcomes of LGBTQ+ employees.

Keywords

Organizational justice, workplace discrimination, sexual orientation, LGBTQ, organizational climate, perceived fairness, Button Scale, workplace equity, organizational policy, employee well-being.

Authors

S. B. Button, Lauren Dyan Fisher.

Purpose

The primary objective of this scale is to quantify, from the employee’s perspective, the degree to which organizations actively engage in affirming behaviors, establish fair policies, and ensure equitable treatment for employees who identify as lesbians and gay men. It is intended for rigorous use in organizational research and Applied Psychology settings to systematically identify and measure systemic issues of bias.

Specifically, the instrument helps researchers assess the perceived presence of organizational efforts to affirm sexual diversity. This assessment encompasses both formal structures, such as policies related to promotions and benefits, and informal dynamics, including the social climate fostered by organizational culture and internal training programs, thereby informing targeted diversity and inclusion efforts.

Construct

The scale measures the psychological construct known as Perceived Treatment Discrimination. This construct is derived from organizational climate and justice theories, and it is distinct in that it captures the subjective perception of systemic bias embedded within the organization’s structural and cultural mechanisms, moving beyond the measurement of singular, individual acts of harassment.

This perception is conceptualized as multi-faceted, encompassing three core areas: 1) the perceived fairness of formal organizational policies and practices, such as the distribution of benefits and opportunities for promotion; 2) the perceived commitment of organizational leadership to ensuring equitable treatment for all employees; and 3) the perceived presence of affirming behaviors and social support originating from the organization and co-workers.

Validity

The scale demonstrates strong evidence of construct validity, supported by its extensive use in peer-reviewed academic literature since its initial development. The items exhibit high face validity, as they directly address perceptions of organizational policies and fairness specific to the employee’s sexual minority status.

In subsequent research, including work by Button (2001) and Fisher (2012), the scale has demonstrated robust discriminant validity. It consistently shows expected negative correlations with positive organizational outcomes, such as organizational commitment and job satisfaction, and positive correlations with measures of workplace strain, including stress and turnover intentions. This pattern confirms that the scale measures a distinct, theoretically grounded form of workplace disadvantage.

Reliability

The Perceived Treatment Discrimination scale is consistently reported to possess high internal consistency, meeting the stringent standards required for publication in top-tier journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology. This high reliability ensures that the nine items function cohesively to measure the singular, underlying construct of perceived organizational bias.

Studies utilizing this instrument generally report Cronbach’s alpha coefficients exceeding the threshold of .80. This level of internal consistency indicates that the items reliably measure the same core construct of perceived organizational discrimination, providing confidence in the scale’s measurement precision.

Factor Analysis

Factor analytical procedures are often applied to the scale to confirm its structure. Although the items cover different facets—including formal policy, leadership behavior, and social dynamics—analyses frequently support a strong, robust single-factor structure, representing the overall employee perception of Perceived Treatment Discrimination.

S. B. Button’s foundational work emphasizes the multi-level nature of organizational efforts and suggests that a unified measure effectively captures the employee’s holistic perception of the organizational environment toward sexual orientation. While some researchers suggest the possibility of distinguishing between formal structural factors and informal social climate factors, the primary interpretation supports a cohesive, singular construct.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological scale; organizational climate inventory.

Format: 9 items administered using a 7-point Likert Scale.

Language Available: English (Primary).

Population Group: Employees who identify as sexual minorities (specifically gay men and lesbians).

Age Group: Adult working population (typically 18 years of age and older).

Population Details: Individuals employed within various organizational contexts where organizational policies and culture related to diversity and equity are relevant.

Test Methodology: Quantitative survey administration, often utilized in cross-sectional or longitudinal organizational behavior and Applied Psychology studies.

Keywords

Organizational commitment, workplace equity, organizational policy, sexual diversity, organizational justice, job satisfaction, employee well-being, Button, discrimination perception, organizational support.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified.

Correspondence Address: Not specified (Correspondence typically directed to S. B. Button via their institutional affiliation at the time of publication).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1996 (Initial development completed in a doctoral dissertation).

Permissions: The instrument is widely accessible and utilized in academic research. Usage generally requires citation of the primary sources (Button, 1996, 2001). The instrument is publicly accessible via the Columbia University Academic Commons: http://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac%3A152578.

Fee: Generally, no fee is charged for non-commercial academic research use, provided that proper attribution is maintained.

Reference’s

• Button, S. B. (1996). Organizational efforts to affirm sexual diversity: A multi-level examination (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Database. (UMI No. 9702260).

• Button, S. B. (2001). Organizational efforts to affirm sexual diversity: A cross-level examination. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 17-28.

• Button, S. B. (2004). Identity management strategies utilized by lesbian and gay employees: A quantitative investigation. Group & Organization Management, 29, 470-494.

• Fisher, Lauren Dyan. (2012). Antecedents and outcomes of sexual orientation disclosure in the workplace among lesbians. Columbia University Academic Commons. Doctoral thesis.

Items of the Perceived Treatment Discrimination toward Sexual Minorities

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. My employer is affirming toward lesbians and gay men.

2. The leaders of this organization are committed to the equitable treatment of lesbian and gay employees.

3. The policies of this organization are fair and equitable to gays and lesbians.

4. This organization does not treat lesbians and gay men fairly.

5. This organization takes steps to ensure that homosexuals are treated just like heterosexuals.

6. My co-workers are more likely to be supportive of lesbian and gay people because of the training programs maintained by this organization.

7. This organization unfairly discriminates against gays and lesbians in the distribution of job-related opportunities (e.g., promotions, work assignments).

8. This organization unfairly discriminates against gays and lesbians in the distribution of benefits.

9. This organization discourages employees from bringing same-sex dates to company related social functions (e.g., company picnics).

Scoring Key: 1= Strongly Disagree, 2= Disagree, 3= Slightly Disagree, 4= Uncertain, 5= Slightly Agree, 6=Strongly Agree, 7= Agree