Racial minority status in the face of workplace ostracism : a double-edged sword?

Abstract

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\u27s (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