Women’s Participation in Collective Action for Workplace Gender Equality: The Role of Perceived Relative Deprivation, Resentment, and Moral Conviction

Abstract

Gender-based collective action is essential to close widespread gender gaps in the workplace and pursue gender equality. To understand the processes underlying engagement in different forms of action, this research focused on women’s relative deprivation arising from the perception of unjust disparity between women’s and men’s conditions at work. Across one correlational (Study 1; N = 455) and one experimental study (Study 2; N = 320) conducted in Italy, we tested a serial mediational model linking perceived relative deprivation in the workplace to women’s engagement in collective action through resentment about gender inequalities at work and moral conviction to address gender inequality in the workplace. Two forms of collective action were considered: traditional collective action (i.e., organized action, such as signing a petition) and small acts in the workplace (i.e., more informal behaviors for gender equality). Results of the serial mediation model showed that perceiving relative deprivation was associated with a greater willingness to engage in collective action, and this association was explained through resentment and moral conviction. These findings suggest that raising awareness of gender discrimination in the work domain is a critical step toward increasing women’s mobilization to act for gender equality.