RUI: Relationship crafting after workplace ostracism in racial minority employees: The role of autonomic arousal, emotions, and cognitive attributions

促进工作场所的包容性和实现员工福祉对商业组织非常重要。当一个组织成员在工作中被其他人排斥或忽视时，就会发生职场排斥。近70%的美国员工经历过职场排斥。少数族裔背景的员工的情况更糟，这对在日益多样化的环境中努力促进包容性工作场所的组织领导者构成了巨大挑战。本研究旨在探讨员工对职场排斥的情绪和生理反应，以及他们的种族背景和认知归因对这一过程的影响。此外，研究人员还确定了关系构建的有益影响，这是一种积极的社会行为，可以帮助被排斥的员工重新获得社会联系，恢复幸福感并恢复绩效。该项目的研究结果对改善工作场所多样性和包容性的政策和实践具有重要意义。首先，使用基于小插曲的实验研究，调查人员研究了工作场所排斥和认知归因对受害者情绪紧张的主效应和交互效应。第二，采用一系列实验室任务（赛博球游戏、礼品卡任务和特里尔社会压力测试）和生理测量（皮肤电导水平和心率变异性），研究者考察了被排斥个体的交感神经系统和副交感神经系统的不同活动以及关系构建的功能。第三，使用经验抽样方法收集多源数据在10周的时间内，调查人员检查的波动，工作场所的排斥和员工的反应，否则错过了一个主题间的设计。数据分析使用多层次建模，基于蒙特卡罗的置信区间，和多组路径分析。使用一个完整的周期设计，调查人员确定的内部和外部的有效性的研究，并制定一个强大的理论工作场所排斥。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

Promoting workplace inclusion and attaining employee well-being are important for business organizations. Workplace ostracism occurs when an organizational member is excluded or ignored by other people at work. Almost 70% of American employees have experienced workplace ostracism. The situation is worse among employees with a racial minority background, posing a tremendous challenge for organizational leaders who strive to promote an inclusive workplace in an increasingly diverse environment. This project investigates how employees respond emotionally and physiologically to workplace ostracism and the extent to which their racial background and cognitive attribution affect this process. Furthermore, the researchers determine the beneficial effects of relationship crafting, a proactive social behavior that helps ostracized employees to regain social connections, recover wellbeing, and restore performance. Findings of this project have important implications for policy and practice to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace.Using a multi-method approach, this project conducts three studies. First, using a vignette-based experimental study, the investigators examine the main and interaction effects of workplace ostracism and cognitive attributions on the victims’ emotional strains. Second, employing a battery of laboratory tasks (Cyberball Game, Gift Card Task, and Trier Social Stress Test) and physiological measures (skin conductance level and heart rate variability), the investigators examine the distinct activities of sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system and the function of relationship crafting among ostracized individuals. Third, using the experience sampling method to collect multi-source data in a 10-week period, the investigators examine the fluctuations of workplace ostracism and employee responses that are otherwise missed by a between-subject design. Data is analyzed using multilevel modeling, Monte Carlo based confidence intervals, and multiple-group path analysis. Using a full-cycle design, the investigators ascertain the internal and external validities of the studies and develop a robust theory on workplace ostracism.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.