Anti‐bias training and perceived force climate: Links with prejudiced attitudes in United Kingdom policing

Abstract

AbstractAnti‐bias training has been viewed as the solution to prejudice in organizations, yet the evidence is mixed in real‐world settings. Some point to the broader organizational climate that training takes place in as critical, and herein we investigate one aspect: communicating about bias in autonomy‐supportive (i.e., non‐shaming) ways. Using the 2019 National Well‐Being and Inclusion Survey of United Kingdom police officers and staff (n = 34,529 in 43 forces), we tested links of participating in anti‐bias training, perceived autonomy‐supportive communication, and their interaction on prejudiced attitudes. Results revealed a negligible effect (R2 = 0.001) of participating in anti‐bias training but a moderate effect (R2 = 0.05) of perceiving autonomy‐supportive communication predicting lower prejudice. Their interaction was significant but negligible (R2 = 0.001): participating in anti‐bias training predicted lower prejudice when perceiving autonomy‐supportive communication; there was no link between training and attitudes without autonomy‐supportive communication. Implications for improving the effectiveness of anti‐bias training in applied settings and research are discussed.