The consequences of being myself: Understanding authenticity and psychological safety for LGB employees

Abstract

AbstractAlthough workplace authenticity has gained interest by researchers and the popular press, the construct's conceptualization as enacting only positive effects as informed by self‐verification theory may not represent the experiences of workers of marginalized identities. Acknowledging that individuals deciding to disclose a stigmatized identity at work face potential prejudice, we investigated whether the benefits of authentic expression on employees' organizational commitment and job involvement depend on psychological safety. Via a time‐lagged survey of sexual‐minority employees, we found evidence for a model explicating the conditional indirect effects of identity disclosure and authenticity on outcomes, as moderated by perceived workgroup psychological safety. Such findings theoretically challenge the literature's present assumption of authenticity's uniform benefits via exploration of important contextual boundary conditions. Practically, this research underscores the need for psychologically safe work environments, encouraging employers to maximize psychological safety where possible to see the full benefit of employees' workplace authenticity.