Marketplace stigma: customers’ stigmatization of employees with hepatitis C virus

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate the first instrument to measure the source of customers’ stigmatization of employees with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Egypt.

Design/methodology/approach

The development and validation processes unfolded as follows: an item pool was generated from focus groups and previous studies on stigma; the initial instrument was evaluated by three experts and pilot-tested; the instrument was used to collect data from 500 Egyptian consumers to determine its dimensionality; to test this structure, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on a new sample of 300 Egyptian consumers.

Findings

Exploratory factor analysis showed that the instrument captures three factors: devaluation, avoidance and pity. Results confirmed that customers’ stigmatization of employees with HCV is a multidimensional construct that is manifested in these three dimensions.

Originality/value

Despite the importance of disease stigma, management scholars have not given it sufficient attention. This paper offers new insights into the study of a particular type of workplace discrimination and ways of measuring it.

Citation

Mohamad, M.S. and Mohamed, A.A. (2016), "Marketplace stigma: customers’ stigmatization of employees with hepatitis C virus", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 35 No. 10, pp. 1219-1231. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-05-2015-0079