Twentieth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Research suggests that explicit anti-Black bias is widespread, and that intergroup contact with Black individuals can reduce anti-Black bias. We review data from thousands of records of White, non-Hispanic working adults in the geocoded General Social Survey. First, we estimate the extent of three forms of anti-Black bias—feeling closer to Whites than Blacks, feeling Whites are more intelligent than Blacks, and being more comfortable with a close relative marrying a White person than marrying a Black person (a proxy for the willingness to close social distance). We next ascertain whether any of these forms of bias are more pronounced in certain occupational sectors via one-way ANOVA analyses and find statistically significant between firm variation in average levels of bias for all three biases. Finally, via propensity score matching (PSM), an advanced observational data analysis technique, we estimate that contact with Blacks in workplaces produce statistically significant reductions in “closeness bias,” but does not reduce “intelligence bias” or “relative marital bias.” We review possible ramifications for firms; and discuss how firms can reduce, and ameliorate the negative impacts, of these biases–in particular intelligence bias.