Calzado Real, Tamara; Blair, Ariel; Tenney, Elizabeth (University of Utah)
Faculty Advisor: Blair, Barbara "Ariel" (David Eccles School of Business, Management)
The purpose of this study is to understand how racial dissimilarity affects people of color's voice behavior in a student or class group. In a group where a person's social category is underrepresented, they become more aware of that social identity and their ability to perform at their full potential reduces because they are more focused on monitoring their performance and suppressing negative thoughts and feelings than improving group performance. However, in situations where people are more identified with the group, they are more likely to feel committed to or express themselves in a group. Additionally, in groups where people of color don't perceive themselves as different from all or most of the other group members, subgroups and division among team members is less likely to occur. In order for people of color to contribute in meaningful and innovative ways, having the confidence to speak up and express new ideas is crucial. We will run a survey where participants recall groups that they have been a part of and rank their voice (participation) in the group, their perceived racial dissimilarity of the group, and the importance of race on their personal identity. Afterwards, they will placed in an online student group chat with high or low dissimilarity and will be asked to reflect on their experiences. In line with previous research we expect that the importance of race on their personal identity will be positively related to perceived racial dissimilarity and therefore, we expect peoples' voice behaviors to decrease when they are in a group where racial dissimilarity is high.