Are You In or Out? Employment Discrimination in Online and Offline Networks

In the current focal article, Lindsey, King, Dunleavy, McCausland, & Jones (2013) discuss how organizational scholars and practitioners can help eradicate employment discrimination across the employment cycle, focusing primarily on factors directly linked to organizational outcomes. In addition to facing discrimination that is linked to organizational outcomes, marginalized individuals often face subtle forms of discrimination, which may not directly affect organizational decisions and outcomes but instead may impact one's workplace experiences (e.g., social networking situations). Such negative experiences may indirectly influence organizational decisions and outcomes. Thus, in this commentary we argue that we should not only encourage evidence-based research on eradicating discrimination at the organizational level but ensure that such efforts also examine the social, individual level as well. We discuss manifestations of subtle discrimination that occur within the social aspects of each of the four cycles discussed in the focal article, paying particular attention to social networking situations, and examine steps organizational researchers can take to help reduce discrimination at a more social level as well.