Multi-level triggers of anti-woke behaviour: immigrant marginalisation in the workplace

[thumbnail of Kamasak_CJAS-2026.pdf]
Text
- Accepted Version
· Restricted to Repository staff only
· The Copyright of this document has not been checked yet. This may affect its availability.

Please see our End User Agreement.

It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from this work. See Guidance on citing.

Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email

Kamasak, R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8768-3569 and Palalar Alkan, D. (2025) Multi-level triggers of anti-woke behaviour: immigrant marginalisation in the workplace. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. ISSN 1936-4490 doi: 10.1002/cjas.70038 (In Press)

Abstract/Summary

This study examines how exclusionary diversity climates in anti-woke organisations foster hostility towards immigrant talent and lead to their underemployment and marginalisation. Drawing on an integrative framework of institutional theory and social cognitive theory, we investigate how macro-level sociopolitical forces and mesolevel factors trigger and reinforce such anti-woke dynamics. Our qualitative study finds that moral panic, broader anti-immigrant signals in the sociopolitical landscape, such as ethnocentric and nationalist ideologies and regulatory shortcomings, are interpreted by organisations into HR practices and narratives. This organisational translation results in biased hiring and onboarding practices, pressures for cultural conformity, moral panic about cultural contamination, doubts about immigrants’ professional legitimacy, and informal boundary policing that reinforce insider–outsider divides. Consequently, we show how an anti-woke stance hampers the effective integration of immigrant employees. We argue that without confronting anti-EDI ideologies and implementing genuine inclusive practices at both institutional and organisational levels, firms will continue to underutilise skilled immigrants, worsening talent waste and skill shortages, which harms both organisations and countries.

Altmetric Badge

Item Type Article
URI https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/127664
Identification Number/DOI 10.1002/cjas.70038
Refereed Yes
Divisions Henley Business School > Leadership, Organisations, Behaviour and Reputation
Uncontrolled Keywords Skilled Immigrants; Anti-Woke Organisations; Diversity Climate; Moral Panic; Cultural Contamination; Qualitative Research; Turkey.
Publisher Wiley
Download/View statistics View download statistics for this item

University Staff: Request a correction | Centaur Editors: Update this record