Social Dominance Orientation and Perceptions of Gender Discrimination: A Discrepancy Account of Fairness Judgments

Across four studies (N = 1,300), we examined how social dominance orientation (SDO) relates to perceptions of gender discrimination in organizations. We propose a discrepancy account: discrimination judgments reflect perceived gaps between prescriptive and descriptive fairness norms, and higher SDO is associated with perceiving smaller gaps and thus lower discrimination perceptions. In Studies 1a and 1b, higher SDO was linked to lower perceived discrimination. Study 2 replicated this pattern and showed that, in hierarchical organizations, higher SDO corresponded to higher perceived descriptive fairness, which in turn related to lower discrimination perceptions. In Study 3, discrepancies across procedural and distributive norms fully mediated the SDO–discrimination association, with effects driven mainly by distributive norm discrepancies. The total indirect effect was larger in hierarchical than egalitarian contexts and remained when controlling for status-legitimizing beliefs. Together, these studies offer evidence for a novel mechanism underlying discrimination perceptions and implications for diversity initiatives.