A Review of Australian Industries and Implications for Australia HV6S

While Ashforth and Kreiner (1999) theorised that workers in dirty and dangerous occupations (e.g., mining, construction) may themselves be stigmatised as dirty and dangerous, results to date have been mixed. This study investigates participants’ views of the working conditions and behaviours of construction industry personnel, as well as the threats posed and emotional responses elicited by these behaviours. It then measures participants’ explicit biases and discrimination against construction workers, and whether such biases are cued by industrial attire, e.g., an orange high-visibility vest (HVV) vs. casual attire (a white T-shirt). Constructs assessed include aggressiveness, trustworthiness, and Social Economic Position (SEP). Direct Measures: A visualisation task and two questionnaires will identify construction industry behaviours, the associated threats, and emotional responses to those threats. Discrimination based on attire (orange HVV, white T-shirt, navy-coloured suit) will be measured by 12 ambiguous scenarios in which participants select their preferred candidate for a prestigious position, an advantageous loan, or the one guilty of a crime. A stereotype questionnaire will assess the working conditions, traits, and global evaluations of a construction worker attired in an orange HVV vs. a white T-shirt. Other measures include Impression Management and Demographics. Outcome Measures: The stereotype, global evaluation, and discrimination measures are calculated as within-subject difference scores based on target attire (orange HVV minus white T-shirt) and assessed by single sample t-tests at p = < .05 two-tailed. A positive difference score indicates an adverse evaluation of orange HVV (vs. white T-shirt) targets.