The relationship between perceived religious discrimination and work-related attitudes, with specific reference to the Rastafari religion

Abstract

Although perceived religious discrimination has been studied extensively in past years, much information remains unknown about this topic in the context of the workplace. The aim of this research was to confirm previous research findings and to extend the current limited body of knowledge with regard to perceived religious discrimination and the Rastafari religion, by determining whether a relationship exists between perceived religious discrimination and positive work-related attitudes such as job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and work engagement for a Rastafari sample. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 80 employees that belong to the Rastafari religion, chosen from organisations in two provinces. Perceived discrimination and three work-related attitudes were measured. The data was analysed by means of a t-test, a one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, and a multiple regression analysis. The major finding of this research was a positive relationship between perceived religious discrimination and the work-related attitudes measured, namely job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and work engagement. Only one of the dependent variables measured, namely identification with and commitment to religion, showed a statistically significant association with the sociodemographic variables (the independent variables), in this case gender. The findings of the study enable a deeper understanding of the relationship between perceived religious discrimination and positive work-related attitudes, particularly with reference to the Rastafari religion. This research confirmed the importance of studying religion in the context of the workplace.