Person-Message Fit: Racial Identification Moderates the Benefits of Multicultural and Colorblind Diversity Approaches

Abstract

Although diversity approaches attempt to foster inclusion, one size may not fit all. In five studies, African Americans ( N = 1,316), who varied in strength of racial identification, contemplated interviewing at a company with a multicultural or colorblind approach. Participants in the multicultural condition anticipated pressure to be prototypical group members relative to colorblind and control conditions. Only weakly identified participants reacted to this pressure, experiencing more anxiety and inauthenticity in the multicultural relative to colorblind (not control) company. Strongly identified participants experienced less anxiety and inauthenticity in the multicultural relative to colorblind and control companies. Inauthenticity among weakly identified participants was apparent in self-descriptions and linked with worse hiring outcomes in multicultural relative to colorblind and control contexts. Despite predictions, there were no self-stereotyping effects. Diversity approaches that make some group members more comfortable may prove simultaneously constraining for others, highlighting the complexity in how diversity approaches affect individuals.

Mixed Reactions to Multicultural (vs. Colorblind) Diversity Approach Signals: A Lay Theories of Culture Perspective

“…As scholars and practitioners have argued, such signaling bears nontrivial implications (Avery, 2003;Konrad & Linnehan, 1995;Thomas & Ely, 1996). As such, a growing body of literature in applied psychology has emerged to study diversity signaling and its implications, for example, its impact on attracting job applicants and garnering support for diversity from incumbents (Guillaume et al, 2015;Kirby & Kaiser, 2020;Olsen & Martins, 2016).…”

“…For instance, in one Canadian survey, 72% of respondents expressed feeling uneasy about their country's multicultural approach (Bissoondath, 2002;Reid, 2016); on an international online forum, 48% of participants responded negatively while 52 % responded positively to a multicultural approach (Debate.org, 2020). When and why people react so differently to a multicultural approach is still not well understood (Kirby & Kaiser, 2020;Konrad & Linnehan, 1995). Thus, organizational scholars have called for more research to examine potential factors that determine these mixed reactions (Guillaume et al, 2015;Olsen & Martins, 2016).…”

“…With competition comes self-threat, resulting in the motivation to bolster one's self or group as better than outgroups and self-protective reactions such as hostility and rejection (Brewer, 2007). In line with this notion, a multicultural approach is also sometimes associated with increased stereotyping (Wolsko et al, 2000), which can raise minority individuals' concern about representing their group and cause anxiety about being evaluated through the lens of stereotypes (e.g., Apfelbaum et al, 2016), and increase feelings of inauthenticity as a result of those anxieties (Kirby & Kaiser, 2020). Even for majority individuals, the multicultural approach could evoke negative responses, leading to feelings of unfairness, exclusion (Plaut et al, 2011;Ballinger, & Crocker, 2021), threat and anger (Plant & Devine, 2001), as well as general dislike and less identification toward the approach (Cobb et al, 2020).…”

“…The first category relates to group status. Across studies, people favored a multicultural approach to the extent that it provided people with benefits based on their group membership (James et al, 2001;Kidder et al, 2004) or fulfilled their status motives (e.g., social dominance orientation, racial identification, right-wing authoritarianism; Ballinger, & Crocker, 2021;Guimond et al, 2013;Kirby & Kaiser, 2020;Morrison et al, 2010;Kauff et al, 2013). The second category relates to situational characteristics (e.g., organizational heterogeneity, diversity exposure).…”

The relationship between supportive campus environment and cultural diversity in enhancing students’ sense of belonging in higher education

“…The changes in student demography therefore call for HE institutions (HEIs) to put in place structures and policies that address the sociocultural and psychological challenges students face in adjusting to the university environment. To address the issues related to interracial and ethnic tension (Kirby and Kaiser, 2021), many institutions have begun to focus on diversity as a way of promoting equality and inclusion. From a social perspective, diversity explains the social dissimilarities that are found between individuals or groups and which serve as the foundation for social position of individuals that influence their daily experiences (Urbiola et al, 2017).…”