Mexican American Public Sector Professionals: Perceptions of Affirmative Action Policies and Workplace Discrimination

• Published in: Review of public personnel administration 2012-03, Vol.32 (1), p.24-44
• Main Authors: Ortega, Ramona, Plagens, Gregory K., Stephens, Peggy, Berry-James, RaJade M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Affirmative Action; Affirmative action programs; Civil Service; Comparative analysis; Discrimination; Employment discrimination; Ethnicity; Hispanic Americans; Managers; Mexican Americans; Peers; Perceptions; Phoenix, Arizona; Public Sector; San Antonio, Texas; Studies; Workplaces
• ISSN: 0734-371X; 1552-759X
• DOI: 10.1177/0734371X11408705

Diversity among civil service employees, affirmative action, and workplace discrimination continue to be salient and potentially dynamic issues for public sector human resource managers. In an effort to better understand a fast-growing but rarely studied subgroup of the public workforce, this study compares Mexican American managers’ perceptions of affirmative action and workplace discrimination to those of their White and Black, non-Hispanic peers. Data for this study come from two large Southwestern United States cities, Phoenix, Arizona and San Antonio, Texas. Results from bivariate and multivariate analyses show that managers, as a collective group, do not believe affirmative action policies and workplace discrimination have affected advancement. However, when the data are disaggregated and reexamined by race or ethnicity, significant differences of opinion emerge. We find evidence that Mexican American managers perceive affirmative action policies and workplace discrimination differently than their peers.