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A Multilevel Analysis of Racial Diversity and Work Engagement in U.S. Federal Agencies: The Moderating Role of Ethics Program Effectiveness

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Racial diversity is normatively desirable in public organizations, but the social and psychological processes it activates may lead to employees’ negative work attitudes. Combining social categorization theory, perceived organizational support theory, and psychological contract theory, this study investigates whether racial diversity is negatively related to employee work engagement in U.S. federal agencies and whether the perceived effectiveness of agency ethics programs moderates this relationship. Using multilevel mixed-effects regression analyses with data from 10,088 employees nested within 24 federal agencies drawn from the 2016 Merit Principles Survey, we find that racial diversity was negatively associated with work engagement. However, this negative relationship was reduced when employees perceived their agency’s ethics program as more effective. At high levels of perceived effectiveness, the negative association was no longer statistically significant. These findings suggest that the perceived effectiveness of ethics programs is a meaningful organizational condition under which the negative association between racial diversity and work engagement may be attenuated. This pattern has implications for diversity management and human resource practice in ethical, high-performing, and sustainable public organizations.

Source: Systems

DOI: 10.3390/systems14060693

Authors: Kuk-Kyoung Moon, Jaeyoung Lim

Institutions: Inha University, Chosun University

Language: English

Topic: Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior

Subfield: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896