Race and workplace discrimination

Abstract

Purpose Drawing upon theories of modern discrimination, the present study focuses on cyber incivility and interpersonal incivility as mechanisms through which race leads to perceived discrimination. Participants included 408 full-time working adults who responded to an online survey. The results indicate that Non-White employees experience subtle forms of discrimination through the use of e-mail, which accentuate the need for organizations to eradicate workplace mistreatment so that their employees can avoid the adverse outcomes associated with experiencing cyber incivility. The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding of selective incivility and concludes with directions for future research and practical implications. Design/methodology/approach Participants included 408 full-time working adults who responded to the survey online. Findings The results indicate that race was indirectly associated with discrimination through cyber incivility. The results indicate that Non-White employees experience subtle forms of discrimination through the use of technology and cyber space which accentuate the need for organizations to eradicate workplace incivility so that their employees can evade the adverse outcomes associated with experiencing incivility at work. Research limitations/implications This study extends the understanding of selective incivility and concludes with directions for future research and practical implications. Originality/value This paper is the first to explore the relationship between race, cyber incivility and discrimination.

A theoretical model of selective cyber incivility: Exploring the roles of perceived informality and perceived distance

“…Attributional ambiguity theory explains that distress is more likely to occur for targets of mistreatment (e.g., incivility) when they are unable to determine if the experience occurred due to their disadvantaged minority status or for some unrelated yet plausible reason (e.g., levels of competency or personality characteristics). We explain the findings of Daniels and Thornton (2019) by arguing that this psychological mindset of uncertainty is less damaging in the case of F2F incivility experiences than cyber incivility experiences given that the latter is more ambiguous. We assert that while attributional ambiguity theory has been primarily used to explain a target's psychological experiences of dealing with ambiguity in understanding the intent of their perpetrator in social interactions that occur F2F (Samnani et al, 2013), the tenets of this theory can similarly explain why Daniels and Thornton found that cyber incivility led to worse outcomes than F2F incivility.…”

“…Similarly, we predict that an increased perception of informality when composing written communication on cyber platforms is likely to increase a perpetrator's tendencies to engage in uncivil behaviours, given that the perpetrator and/or the target in such contexts are less visible, which, in turn, decreases the perpetrator's accountability as compared to F2F settings. Daniels and Thornton (2019) echoed this notion, referring to this presumed lack of conversational courtesies on digitised communication platforms as a 'veil for modern discrimination to manifest itself as cyber incivility' (p. 321). For example, perpetrators of incivility may be less likely to yell at coworkers with known/ visible stigmatised identities due to societal and/or organisational norms in F2F settings.…”

“…This is likely due in part to the pervasiveness of cyber incivility in electronic communication, which includes behaviours such as sending digital messages in a disrespectful tone, ignoring electronic requests received, or delaying responding to time‐sensitive messages (e.g., cancelling, postponing, or planning a meeting on short notice; Lim & Teo, 2009). While past research has primarily examined the consequences of incivility in face‐to‐face (F2F) contexts including depression, burnout, disengagement, and job dissatisfaction (e.g., Cortina et al., 2013), a few recent studies have explored how cyber incivility may incite similar consequences (Daniels & Thornton, 2019; Lim & Teo, 2009; Park et al., 2015).…”

Effects of two-dimensional cyber incivility on employee well-being from a self-determination perspective

“…For instance, cyber incivility undermines basic need satisfaction, which has further detrimental impacts ( Ju and Pak, 2021 ). It also serves as an essential mediator between race and perceived discrimination ( Daniels and Thornton, 2020 ). However, the field of occupational health psychology currently still does not pay enough attention to cyber incivility.…”

More on why Lakisha and Jamal didn’t get interviews: Extending previous findings through a reproducibility study

“…Even if the evaluator considers the signals communicated by both the first name and the last name, the potentially conflicting racial and ethnic signals sent by a name like Kareem (Arabic) Robinson (Black/African-American) are unlikely to be problematic as, according to intersectionality theory, people can hold multiple identities at once (Ozturk & Berber, 2022). Although intersectionality theory historically emphasized the coexistence of gender and racial identities (e.g., Arai et al, 2016;Daniels & Thornton, 2019;Salerno et al, 2019), intersectionality is relevant when people are associated with multiple racial and ethnic groups. Furthermore, the double jeopardy component to intersectionality theory states that discrimination may be cumulative when individuals are punished for holding multiple stigmatized identities (Cortina et al, 2013).…”