Interracial contact at work: Does workplace diversity reduce bias?

Abstract

Research suggests that anti-Black bias among White Americans is persistent, pervasive, and has powerful negative effects on the lives of both Black and White Americans. Research also suggests that intergroup contact in workplaces can reduce bias. We seek to address two limitations in prior research. First, the workplaces reviewed in prior studies may not be typical. Second, previously observed relationships between workplace contact and bias may stem from selection bias—namely, that White individuals who tend to work with Black individuals are systematically different from those who do not, and those systematic differences explain lower bias levels. To address these issues, we review records ( N = 3,359) of White, non-Hispanic, working adults in a nationally representative survey to examine the relationship between workplace contact and racial closeness bias after adjusting for an exhaustive set of potential confounders. Using propensity score matching, we compare individuals who work with Black individuals with their “virtual twins”—individuals who have the same propensity of working with Black individuals but do not. We estimate that having a Black coworker causes a statistically significant reduction in racial closeness bias for White, non-Hispanic adults.