Subjective Theories of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transsexual Employees Concerning How They Deal with their Sexual or Gender Identity in the Workplace—An Exploratory Qualitative Study

Abstract

The present exploratory study aims at generating idiographically oriented insights on the way lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual employees cope with their sexual or gender identity in the workplace. The subjective theories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual interviewees were represented by structure-formation-techniques and communicatively validated via dialog-consensus. The subjective theories of lesbian and gay employees are compared and discussed with respect to their individual coping strategies, while the subjective theories of bisexual or transgender/transsexual employees are additionally examined with their specific situation in mind. This approach aims to qualitatively deepen the existing quantitative knowledge on lesbian and gay employees' situations and to generate fundamental findings on the situation of bisexual and transsexual/transgender employees. These results provide a sound foundation for future quantitative and qualitative research activities. This study focuses particularly on resilience issues and potential skills that may be catalyzed by the unique biographical experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual employees.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs130368