Beyond the law: processes underlying religious accommodation decisions
ISSN: 0025-1747
Article publication date: 2 October 2018
Issue publication date: 3 May 2019
Abstract
Purpose
Currently, the academic understanding of religious accommodation in the workplace is skewed toward a consideration of legal decision making. The purpose of this paper is to move beyond these legal considerations and provide a fresh perspective on antecedents of religious accommodation decisions when managerial discretion is high. To this end, the authors present a model that incorporates psychological and relational processes.
Design/methodology/approach
This research draws on a variety of theoretical perspectives from psychology, organizational behavior and human resource management to theorize a descriptive model of managerial decision-making regarding religious accommodation requests.
Findings
The authors develop a conceptual framework and research agenda for examining front-line decision-makers’ responses to employees’ religious accommodation requests. The focus is on characteristics of the decision maker, the requester and the request that can influence the perceived sincerity of a request and the perceived accommodation cost.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed model moves beyond US-based legal perspectives of religious accommodation and facilitates the identification of novel theoretical perspectives for better understanding accommodation decisions.
Practical implications
Twenty-first century managers are faced with a wide variety of religious accommodation requests. Identification of underlying mechanisms through which these decisions are made facilitates effective interventions to build and sustain an inclusive culture.
Originality/value
This work is among the first efforts in the management literature to theorize about the process of religious accommodation decision making. The authors address the paucity of academic research in this area by introducing perceptual drivers of religious accommodation decisions.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Both authors contributed equally to this work and are listed in reverse alphabetical order.
Citation
Tabesh, P. and Jolly, P.M. (2019), "Beyond the law: processes underlying religious accommodation decisions", Management Decision, Vol. 57 No. 5, pp. 1254-1266. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-11-2017-1087
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited