A new study by the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" at the University of Konstanz examines the impact of right-wing populist election results on the well-being and integration of trainees with an immigrant background. The results show that regional support for the German far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) plays a decisive role in experiences of discrimination and related health consequences for migrant workers.

Does the political climate of a region influence the well-being and mental health of trainees with an immigrant background? Does social polarization influence (discrimination) experiences in the workplace? These are questions addressed by a new study of the "Integration@work" project carried out at the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality". In the project, the researchers involved from the Universities of Konstanz and Mannheim as well as the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories examined the experiences of migrant trainees: "Our results show that political attitudes in a company's region can have a significant impact on the perception of discrimination and the mental health of migrant employees", explains Florian Kunze, project leader and co-author of the study from the University of Konstanz.
In order to explore this relationship, the researchers conducted a longitudinal study with around 1,000 trainees, asking them about their experiences in the first 13 weeks of training and then comparing this with election data at the regional level in Germany. The results show: In regions with high levels of support for right-wing populist parties, such as the AfD, migrants perceive an increasingly derogatory attitude from their colleagues over time. This affects their health and well-being: "We found that trainees in these regions increasingly reported emotional exhaustion and job dissatisfaction after three months in training", says occupational psychologist and postdoctoral researcher Benjamin Korman. "This is not the case in areas with little support for far-right parties".
The results of the study are particularly relevant with regard to the role of (migrant) trainees in counteracting the shortage of skilled workers in Germany. "According to our findings, a right-wing populist climate jeopardizes the successful professional and social integration of migrants into the labour market," says Max Reinwald, junior professor of management. This should give both companies and political decision-makers food for thought.


Key facts

• Original publication: Korman, B., Reinwald, M., Kunze, F., Koos, S. (2025). How political context affects immigrant newcomers‘ social undermining dynamics and well-being at work. Academy of Management Journal.
  DOI: https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2023.0303
• Authors:
  • Benjamin Korman is a postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories in Bamberg. He previously worked at the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" as a postdoctoral researcher in the "Integration@work" project.
  • Max Reinwald is a junior professor of management at the University of Mannheim. He previously worked at the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" as an academic staff member in the "Integration@work" project.
  • Florian Kunze is a professor of organizational behaviour at the University of Konstanz and a principal investigator in the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality", where he leads the "Integration@work" project.
  • Sebastian Koos is a professor of social movements and a principal investigator in the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality".
• For the study, 1,139 trainees in Germany were surveyed at two-week intervals during the first 13 weeks of their dual training using a multilingual app. Information on social relationships in the workplace was collected from 776 participants from various sectors. After data cleaning, 500 participants were included in the final analysis.
• The "Integration@work" project is an interdisciplinary research project of the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" at the University of Konstanz. The aim of the research project is to understand when integration into the company and thus the training, too, is successful and what obstacles might arise, especially for newly immigrated trainees.
• The Cluster of Excellence The Politics of Inequality at the University of Konstanz studies the political causes and effects of inequality from an interdisciplinary perspective. The research focuses on some of the most pressing issues of our time: access to and distribution of (economic) resources, the global rise of populists, climate change and unfairly distributed educational opportunities.