Abstract
Despite a growing body of literature focused on understanding experiences of workplace dignity, attention has centered almost exclusively on employees with lower-level jobs. As a result, little is known about how workplace dignity and indignity are experienced by employees with middle- and upper-level jobs and how their experiences differ from those with lower-level jobs. We address these absences by interviewing employees from a diversity of lower-, middle-, and upper-level jobs about their experiences of indignity at work. We outline common dignity threats, along with typical emotional responses and recourses employees use at each level. We find lower-level employees experience chronic dignity threats from being disrespected, devalued, demeaned, and dehumanized, to which their most typical response is endurance. Middle-level employees experience periodic dignity threats due to undermining of their work, confidence, and reputation. For them, the typical response is strategizing. Finally, on the rare occasions upper-level employees experience dignity threats, it usually is due to a disregard of their special expertise or denial of special rights, to which they respond by rising above.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The IRB-approved protocol for this study stipulated that transcripts would be privately stored to protect the identity of participants. Therefore, supporting data is not publicly available.
References
Ahmed, A., Liang, D., Anjum, M. A., & Durrani, D. K. (2023). Does dignity matter? The effects of workplace dignity on organization-based self-esteem and discretionary work effort. Current Psychology, 42, 4732–4743. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01821-5
Allan, B. A., & Blustein, D. L. (2022). Precarious work and workplace dignity during COVID-19: A longitudinal study. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 136, 103739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2022.103739
Amis, J. M., Mair, J., & Munir, K. A. (2020). The organizational reproduction of inequality. Academy of Management Annals, 14, 195–230. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2017.0033
Apostolidis, P. (2005). Hegemony and hamburger: Migration narratives and democratic unionism among Mexican meatpackers in the U.S West. Political Research Quarterly, 58, 647–658. https://doi.org/10.1177/106591290505800412
Areguin, M. A., & Stewart, A. J. (2022). Latina farmworkers’ experiences: Maintaining dignity in an oppressive workplace. Gender, Work & Organization, 29, 988–1007. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12788
Ashforth, B. E., & Kreiner, G. E. (1999). “How can you do it?”: Dirty work and the challenge of constructing a positive identity. Academy of Management Review, 24, 413–434. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1999.2202129
Ayers, D. F., Miller-Dyce, C., & Carlone, D. (2008). Security, dignity, caring relationships, and meaningful work: Needs motivating participation in a job-training program. Community College Review, 35, 257–276. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059601108314581
Baker, S. J., & Lucas, K. (2017). Is it safe to bring myself to work? Understanding LGBTQ experiences of workplace dignity. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 34, 133–148. https://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1439
Bal, M. (2017). Dignity in the workplace: New theoretical perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan.
Bell, G., & David, J. (2015). What if corporate governance fostered executive dignity? Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 17, 30–45.
Berg, P., & Frost, A. C. (2005). Dignity at work for low wage, low skill service workers. Industrial Relations, 60, 657–682. https://doi.org/10.7202/012339ar
Bolton, S. C. (2007). Dignity in and at work: Why it matters. In S. C. Bolton (Ed.), Dimensions of dignity at work (pp. 3–16). Butterworth-Heinemann.
Bowie, N. E. (2019). Dignity and meaningful work. In R. Yeoman, C. Bailey, A. Madden, & M. Thompson (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of meaningful work (pp. 36–50). Oxford University Press.
Braithwaite, D. O., Allen, J., & Moore, J. (2017). Data conferencing. In J. P. Matthes, C. S. Davis, & R. F. Potter (Eds.), International encyclopedia of communication research methods (pp. 425–427). Wiley-Blackwell.
Brennan, A., & Lo, Y. S. (2007). Two conceptions of dignity: Honour and self-determination. In J. Malapss & N. Lickiss (Eds.), Perspectives on human dignity: A conversation (pp. 43–58). Springer.
Chiappetta-Swanson, C. (2005). Dignity and dirty work: Nurses’ experiences in managing genetic termination for fetal anomaly. Qualitative Sociology, 28, 93–116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-005-2632-0
Creed, W. E. D., Hudson, B. A., Okhuysen, G. A., & Smith-Crowe, K. (2014). Swimming in a sea of shame: Incorporating emotion into explanations of institutional reproduction and change. Academy of Management Review, 39, 275–301. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2012.0074
Crowley, M. (2012). Control and dignity in professional, manual and service-sector employment. Organization Studies, 33, 1383–1406. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840612453529
Crowley, M. (2014). Class, control, and relational indignity: Labor process foundations for workplace humiliation, conflict, and shame. American Behavioral Scientist, 58, 416–434. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764213503335
D’Cruz, P., Bisht, N. S., & Noronha, E. (2021). Theorizing the workplace bullying–workplace dignity link: Evidence from lesbians in Indian workplaces. In P. D’Cruz, E. Noronha, & A. Mendonca (Eds.), Asian perspectives on workplace bullying and harassment (pp. 21–57). Springer.
Donaldson, T., & Walsh, J. P. (2015). Toward a theory of business. Research in Organizational Behavior, 35, 181–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2015.10.002
Dufur, M. J., & Feinberg, S. L. (2007). Artificially restricted labor markets and worker dignity in professional football. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 36, 505–536. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241606294120
Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., & Notelaers, G. (2009). Measuring exposure to bullying and harassment at work: Validity, factor structure and psychometric properties of the negative acts questionnaire-revised. Work & Stress, 23, 24–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678370902815673
Fleming, P. (2005). “Kindergarten cop”: Paternalism and resistance in a high-commitment workplace. Journal of Management Studies, 42, 1469–1489. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2005.00551.x
Fontrodona, J., & Melé, D. (2022). Thinking about the future of work: Promoting dignity and human flourishing. Humanistic Management Journal, 7, 181–188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41463-022-00136-2
Friedman, S., Rossi, D., & Ralón, G. (2015). Dignity denial and social conflicts. Rethinking Marxism, 27, 65–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/08935696.2014.980675
Gibson, C., Thomason, B., Margolis, J., Groves, K. S., Gibson, S., & Franzcak, J. (2023). Dignity inherent and earned: The experience of dignity at work. Academy of Management Annals, 17, 218–267. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2021.0059
Gomberg-Muñoz, R. (2010). Willing to work: Agency and vulnerability in an undocumented immigrant network. American Anthropologist, 112, 295–307. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1433.2010.01227.x
Hamilton, P., Harness, O., & Griffin, M. (2022). Life during furlough: Challenges to dignity from a changed employment status. Industrial Relations Journal, 53, 523–544. https://doi.org/10.1111/irj.12384
Hamilton, P., Redman, T., & McMurray, R. (2019). ‘Lower than a snake’s belly’: Discursive constructions of dignity and heroism in low-status garbage work. Journal of Business Ethics, 156, 889–901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3618-z
Hauhart, R. C. (2015). American sociology’s investigations of the American Dream: Retrospect and prospect. The American Sociologist, 46, 65–98. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-015-9253-1
Henry-Nickie, M., Seo, R., & Barr, A. (2022). As the jobs recovery nears completion, it’s time to talk about job quality. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/how-we-rise/2022/04/19/as-the-jobs-recovery-nears-completion-its-time-to-talk-about-job-quality/
Hodgkiss, P. (2013). A moral vision: Human dignity in the eyes of the founders of sociology. The Sociological Review, 61, 417–439. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.12049
Hodgkiss, P. (2016). The origins of the idea and ideal of dignity in the sociology of work and employment. In S. Edgell, H. Gottfried, & E. Granter (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of the sociology of work and employment (pp. 129–147). SAGE.
Hodson, R. (2001). Dignity at work. Cambridge University Press.
Hodson, R., & Roscigno, V. J. (2004). Organizational success and worker dignity: Complementary or contradictory? American Journal of Sociology, 110, 672–708. https://doi.org/10.1086/422626
Keisu, B.-I. (2017). Dignity: A prerequisite for attractive work in elderly care. Society, Health & Vulnerability, 8, 1322455. https://doi.org/10.1080/20021518.2017.1322455
Kim, E. C. (2009). ‘Mama’s family’: Fictive kinship and undocumented immigrant restaurant workers. Ethnography, 10, 497–513. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138109347000
Kossek, E. E., & Lautsch, B. A. (2018). Work–life flexibility for whom? Occupational status and work–life inequality in upper, middle, and lower level jobs. Academy of Management Annals, 12, 5–36. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2016.0059
Lucas, K. (2015). Workplace dignity: Communicating inherent, earned, and remediated dignity. Journal of Management Studies, 52, 621–646. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12133
Lucas, K. (2017). Workplace dignity. In C. R. Scott & L. Lewis (Eds.), International encyclopedia of organizational communication (pp. 2549–2562). Wiley Blackwell.
Lucas, K., Kang, D., & Li, Z. (2013). Workplace dignity in a total institution: Examining the experiences of Foxconn’s migrant workforce. Journal of Business Ethics, 114, 91–106. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1328-0
Lucas, K., Manikas, A. S., Mattingly, E. S., & Crider, C. J. (2017). Engaging and misbehaving: How dignity affects employee work behaviors. Organization Studies, 38, 1505–1527. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840616677634
Lutgen-Sandvik, P., Tracy, S. J., & Alberts, J. K. (2007). Burned by bullying in the American workplace: Prevalence, perception, degree and impact. Journal of Management Studies, 44, 837–862. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00715.x
Mahalingam, R., Jagannathan, S., & Selvaraj, P. (2019). Decasticization, dignity, and dirty work at the intersections of caste, memory, and disaster. Business Ethics Quarterly, 29, 213–239. https://doi.org/10.1017/beq.2018.34
Mahalingam, R., & Selvaraj, P. (2022). Ambedkar, radical interdependence and dignity: A study of women mall janitors in India. Journal of Business Ethics, 177, 813–828. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05096-z
Mao, J., & Xue, Y. A. (2022). Salvaging adulthood at youth work: Dignity, social disrespect, and the micro-politics of recognition in a polarized world. Organization, 29, 1056–1080. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508420973335
Mea, W. J., & Sims, R. R. (2019). Human dignity-centered business ethics: A conceptual framework for business leaders. Journal of Business Ethics, 160, 53–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3929-8
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2020). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (4th ed.). Sage.
Mitchell, L. (2017). Dignity and membership: A route to the heart of how dignity is done in everyday interaction. In M. Kostera & M. Pirson (Eds.), Dignity and the organization (pp. 37–57). Palgrave Macmillan.
Namie, G., & Namie, R. (2009). The bully at work: What you can do to stop the hurt and reclaim your dignity on the job. Sourcebooks.
Nelson, J. L., & Lewis, A. E. (2016). “I’m a teacher, not a babysitter”: Workers’ strategies for managing identity-related denials of dignity in the early childhood workplace. In S. P. Vallas (Ed.), Research in the sociology of work (pp. 37–71). Emerald Group.
Nimri, R., Kensbock, S., Bailey, J., Jennings, G., & Patiar, A. (2020). Realizing dignity in housekeeping work: Evidence of five star hotels. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 19, 368–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332845.2020.1737770
Noronha, E., Chakraborty, S., & D’Cruz, P. (2020). ‘Doing dignity work’: Indian security guards’ interface with precariousness. Journal of Business Ethics, 162, 553–575. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3996-x
Owens, R. L., Meierding, E. E., & Allan, B. A. (2022). Service workers’ well-being during COVID-19: A strengths-based inclusive theory of work perspective. Journal of Career Assessment, 30, 387–407. https://doi.org/10.1177/10690727211050898
Pirson, M. (2019). A humanistic perspective for management theory: Protecting dignity and promoting well-being. Journal of Business Ethics, 159, 39–57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3755-4
Purser, G. (2009). The dignity of job-seeking men: Boundary work among immigrant day laborers. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 38, 117–139. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241607311867
Putnam, L. L., & Banghart, S. (2017). Interpretive approaches. In C. R. Scott & L. Lewis (Eds.), International encyclopedia of organizational communication (pp. 1347–1363). Wiley.
Rabelo, V. C., & Mahalingam, R. (2019). “They really don’t want to see us”: How cleaners experience invisible ‘dirty’ work. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 113, 103–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2018.10.010
Roberson, Q., & Scott, W. (2024). Contributive justice: An invisible barrier to workplace inclusion. Journal of Management, 50, 877–897. https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063221116089
Sabatino, L., Stievano, A., Rocco, G., Kallio, H., Pietila, A.-M., & Kangasniemi, M. K. (2014). The dignity of the nursing profession: A meta-synthesis of qualitative research. Nursing Ethics, 21, 659–672. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733013513215
Sainz, M., Moreno-Bella, E., & Torres-Vega, L. C. (2023). Perceived unequal and unfair workplaces trigger lower job satisfaction and lower workers’ dignity via organizational dehumanization and workers’ self-objectification. European Journal of Social Psychology, 53, 921–938. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2944
Sayer, A. (2005). The moral significance of class. Cambridge University Press.
Sayer, A. (2007). Dignity at work: Broadening the agenda. Organization, 14, 565–581. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508407078053
Sayer, A. (2009). Contributive justice and meaningful work. Res Publica, 15, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-008-9077-8
Seale, C., Gobo, G., Gubrium, J. F., & Silverman, D. (Eds.). (2004). Qualitative research practice. SAGE.
Sison, A. J. G., Ferrero, I., & Guitián, G. (2016). Human dignity and the dignity of work: Insights from Catholic social teaching. Business Ethics Quarterly, 46, 503–528. https://doi.org/10.1017/beq.2016.18
Stuesse, A. C. (2010). What’s ‘justice and dignity’ got to do with it?: Migrant vulnerability, corporate complicity, and the state. Human Organization, 69, 19–30. https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.69.1.886106412v421152
Taussig, D. (2021). What we mean by the American Dream: Stories we tell about meritocracy. Cornell University Press.
Thomaes, S., Stegge, H., Olthof, T., Bushman, B. J., & Nezlek, J. B. (2011). Turning shame inside-out: “Humiliated fury” in young adolescents. Emotion, 11, 786–793. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023403
Thomas, B., & Lucas, K. (2019). Development and validation of the workplace dignity scale. Group & Organization Management, 44, 72–111. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059601118807784
Tracy, S. J. (2010). Qualitative quality: Eight “big-tent” criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16, 837–851. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410383121
Tracy, S. J. (2019). Qualitative research methods: Collecting evidence, crafting analysis, communicating impact (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
Vieno, A. (2023). ‘It’s as if I’m worth nothing’: Cost-driven restructuring and the dignity of long-term workers in Finland’s state-owned postal service company. Journal of Business Ethics, 187, 17–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05294-9
Villamil, A. M., & D’Enbeau, S. (2021). Essential work in the US during COVID-19: Navigating vulnerability–sustainability tensions. Sustainability, 13, 10665. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910665
Wieland, S. M. B. (2020). Constituting resilience at work: Maintaining dialectics and cultivating dignity throughout a worksite closure. Management Communication Quarterly, 34, 463–494. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318920949314
Wilcoxson, A., & Moore, K. (2020). Dignity strategies in a neoliberal workfare kitchen training program. Sociological Inquiry, 90, 30–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12312
Williams, J. C., Berdahl, J. L., & Vandello, J. A. (2016). Beyond work-life “integration.” Annual Review of Psychology, 67, 515–539. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033710
Funding
Funding was provided by Walton College of Business Office of Diversity & Inclusion at University of Arkansas.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interests
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in the study.
Research Involving Human Participants
This research study involved human participants. All procedures performed involving human subjects were in accordance with the ethical standards of the authors’ institutional review boards.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
Interview protocol top-level questions.
1. Please start by telling us a little about your current job. |
2. I want you to think of a time at work in your current role when you felt as though you were being treated with dignity. What was that experience? |
3. Now, I want you to think of a time while working in your current role when you felt as though you were not being treated with dignity. Please describe that experience. How did you respond? |
4. Please tell us about an occasion or situation in your current role at this organization where, looking back, you realized that you may have treated someone without much dignity. |
5. In your current role, who has the greatest impact on your dignity on a day-to-day basis (boss, coworkers, someone else)? Why and in what ways? |
6. Dignity tends to be one of these terms that everyone understands, but also that everyone experiences uniquely. What does dignity mean to you personally? |
7. What do you wish other people understood about your dignity at work? |
8. In light of our interest in understanding how you experience dignity at work and in your current role at this company, do you think there is anything that I should have asked you that I did not? |
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Tilton, J., Lucas, K., Kish-Gephart, J.J. et al. Enduring, Strategizing, and Rising Above: Workplace Dignity Threats and Responses Across Job Levels. J Bus Ethics (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-024-05672-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-024-05672-5