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.

Keywords: colorblind; diversity; inclusion; intergroup processes; multicultural; organizational behavior; prejudice/stereotyping; racial identity; self-stereotyping; self/identity.

Figure 1.

Predicted results for the authenticity dependent measure.

Figure 2.

Predicted results for the self-stereotyping dependent measure.

Figure 3.

Authenticity and anxiety among African American participants varying in racial identification in Experiment 1.

Figure 4.

Hiring desirability of African American participants varying in racial identification in Experiment 5. Independent raters judged participants’ essay responses.