Digital Commons @ SPU

The role of white support in predicting racial minorities' feelings of inclusion and retention

The main objective of the current study is to identify strategies that white individuals can use to support coworkers of color. For organizations to meet their goals, it is essential for racial minorities to experience a sense of belonging and integration in their workgroups. Thus, we introduced a measure of white support for coworkers of color (WSCC) in which employees of color rated their white coworkers’ openness to learning about sociocultural factors that impact the lives of racial minorities and their inclinations to demonstrate solidarity by promoting justice in the workplace. In a sample of people of color, we found that increased feelings of inclusion mediated the positive link between WSCC and intent to remain in their role. We discuss how these findings can be used to inform the development of diversity and inclusion (D & I) initiatives that educate employees about the harmful, and often indivisible, effects of structural racism and equipping majority employees for allyship behaviors. In conclusion, some directions for future work as well as suggestions for the prevention of white backlash are presented.