Explaining sexual minorities’ disclosure: The role of trust embedded in organizational practices

This paper reports on an empirical study that demonstrated how organizational inclusion practices and employees’ trust in their organization and supervisors affect their willingness to share personal information that could potentially lead to workplace discrimination. The findings are based on data obtained from 431 sexual- and gender-minority employees using an anonymous online survey. The results reveal that trust in the organization and the supervisor fully mediates the relationship between organizational policies and practices and workplace disclosure. In other words, in organizations where policies and practices generate trust, employees are more willing to disclose their minority identity. Our analysis also reveals how trust in the organization and the supervisor interacts with psychological variables associated with the workplace disclosure decision.