Psychological Ownership Within Psychology of Working Theory: A Three-wave Study of Gender and Sexual Minority Employees

The present study examines the experiences of gender and sexual minority employees regarding their ability to secure decent work. Specifically, we extend psychology of working theory (PWT) by integrating  social identity theory  and incorporating psychological ownership into the model. We tested our hypotheses in a sample of 240 gender and sexual minority employees gathering data at three time points over a two-week period. Financial strain, work volition, and psychological ownership were all found to directly predict decent work and work volition was found to mediate the effects of financial strain and workplace climate to decent work. Although climate was significantly predicted by psychological ownership, it failed to mediate the climate-decent work relation, highlighting the need for future research to examine additional constructs in and refinement of PWT. We offer suggestions for future research on PWT and the experiences of marginalized employees, particularly gender and sexual minority employees.