WHITE RACIAL IDENTITY THEORY - A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING REACTIONS TOWARD INTERRACIAL SITUATIONS IN ORGANIZATIONS

As the demographics of the workforce change from predominantly White t o more racially diverse, it is important to understand the various rea ctions White individuals may have to working in more heterogeneous org anizations. The present study examined the relation between White raci al identity attitudes and reactions to interracial situations at work. Participants were full-time employees. As pre dieted by White racial identity theory (Helms, 1990), those individuals with high levels of A utonomy attitudes had more positive reactions to interracial situation s at work, and those individuals characterized by high levels of Disin tegration and Reintegration attitudes had more negative reactions to i nterracial situations at work. The results for Contact and Pseudo-Inde pendent attitudes were less straightforward. The results are supportiv e of the theory and suggest that further research using White racial i dentity theory in organizational contexts would be fruitful. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.