Racial minority status in the face of workplace ostracism : a double-edged sword?
Start Date
21-2-2025 3:40 PM
End Date
21-2-2025 4:00 PM
Description
Nearly 70% of American employees experience ostracism at work, where they are ignored or excluded. This situation is particularly pronounced among employees from racial minority backgrounds, partly due to the devaluation of their racial membership in society. However, little is known about how racial minority employees interpret, respond, and cope with workplace ostracism, posing a tremendous challenge for business leaders to promote an inclusive workplace in an increasingly diverse environment. While racial minority employees face more workplace ostracism than their majority counterparts, we predict that their racial minority status may also help them rationalize this subtle form of mistreatment. In a ten-week weekly diary study, we found that racial minority employees experience more workplace ostracism than racial majority employees, supporting Hl. Based on Weiner's (1986) attribution theory, we conducted a vignette-based experimental study to examine internal (e.g., blaming oneself for poor performance) versus external attributions (e.g., attributing ostracism to discrimination) of workplace ostracism. Data were collected from 415 participants (195 White, 220 non-White) across four conditions (inclusion, exclusion with performance cue, exclusion with race cue, and exclusion with no cue). We found that exclusion with performance cues led to higher feelings of guilt than exclusion with no cue (supporting H2). Additionally, racebased attribution resulted in less guilt than exclusion with no cue (supporting H3). Understanding these attributions can help minority employees interpret exclusion without unnecessary selfblame, encouraging more proactive coping strategies. Our findings underscore the need for organizations to promote inclusive practices and create a diverse environment where all employees feel a sense of belonging and acceptance.
Speaker
Prof LIU Cong
Associate Professor, Department of Applied Psychology, Rutgers University-New Brunswick
Dr. Cong Liu holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of South Florida . She is the Associate Editor of Applied Psychology and previously held the same position at the International Journal of Stress Management. Dr. Liu's research is rooted in occupational health psychology, focusing on enhancing employees' health and well-being in the workplace. Her studies primarily explore workplace relationships, job stressors (both challenge and hindrance), and cultural values that influence employee behavior. Her ongoing research delves into workplace mistreatment, including issues such as workplace ostracism, interpersonal conflict, and abusive supervision . A key area of interest for her is understanding how individual values, particularly the value of harmony, shape employees' experiences, perceptions, and responses to mistreatment in the workplace. Her current NSF-funded research explores how autonomic arousal, emotions, and cognitions interact in response to workplace ostracism and the resulting employee behaviors. In addition, Dr. Liu investigates the mechanisms of challenge and hindrance stressors, with a particular focus on how individual differences, such as implicit beliefs and self-efficacy, affect responses to these stressors. She has also conducted cross-cultural studies comparing the job stress experiences of Chinese and American employees, examining job stressors such as interpersonal conflict, organizational constraints, and job autonomy. Her research has been published in leading journals, including the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. Additionally, she is the chief editor of the book Workplace Ostracism: Its Nature, Antecedents, and Consequences, which is available at Springer.
Co-author(s)
Vi PHUNG
Document Type
Presentation
Recommended Citation
Liu, C. (2025, February 21). Racial minority status in the face of workplace ostracism: A double-edged sword? Presentation presented at the International Conference and Workshop on Health and Well-being in the Digital Era. Lingnan University, Hong Kong.
Racial minority status in the face of workplace ostracism : a double-edged sword?
Nearly 70% of American employees experience ostracism at work, where they are ignored or excluded. This situation is particularly pronounced among employees from racial minority backgrounds, partly due to the devaluation of their racial membership in society. However, little is known about how racial minority employees interpret, respond, and cope with workplace ostracism, posing a tremendous challenge for business leaders to promote an inclusive workplace in an increasingly diverse environment. While racial minority employees face more workplace ostracism than their majority counterparts, we predict that their racial minority status may also help them rationalize this subtle form of mistreatment. In a ten-week weekly diary study, we found that racial minority employees experience more workplace ostracism than racial majority employees, supporting Hl. Based on Weiner's (1986) attribution theory, we conducted a vignette-based experimental study to examine internal (e.g., blaming oneself for poor performance) versus external attributions (e.g., attributing ostracism to discrimination) of workplace ostracism. Data were collected from 415 participants (195 White, 220 non-White) across four conditions (inclusion, exclusion with performance cue, exclusion with race cue, and exclusion with no cue). We found that exclusion with performance cues led to higher feelings of guilt than exclusion with no cue (supporting H2). Additionally, racebased attribution resulted in less guilt than exclusion with no cue (supporting H3). Understanding these attributions can help minority employees interpret exclusion without unnecessary selfblame, encouraging more proactive coping strategies. Our findings underscore the need for organizations to promote inclusive practices and create a diverse environment where all employees feel a sense of belonging and acceptance.