Date of Award

5-1-2023

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Brian Day

Second Advisor

India Johnson

Abstract

Persons with intersecting, marginalized identities encounter unique challenges in workplace settings and may avoid unsupportive professional spaces. Exposure to an identity safety cue (i.e., a signal indicating one's identity is valued) can help attract marginalized persons to organizational environments. Past work suggests that identity safety cues congruent or incongruent with one's marginalized identities can transfer across traditionally marginalized groups. However, the efficacy of incongruent identity safety cues had yet to be explored among individuals with multiply marginalized identities. The present work examined whether an incongruent identity safety cue, or a cue designed for a marginalized group incongruent with one's identities, transferred and signaled identity safety (i.e., identity safety transfer) among sexual and gender minority white women. White, sexual and/or gender minority women viewed a fictitious organization's website in which the presence and absence of a congruent and incongruent identity safety cue were manipulated in the organization's diversity, equity, and inclusion message. Participants then responded to measures operationalizing their anticipated identity safety at the company: trust and comfort, organizational attraction, and organizational commitment. We found that both the congruent identity safety cue (i.e., the rainbow Pride flag) and the incongruent identity safety cue (i.e., the Black Lives Matter Flag) promoted greater identity safety relative to when either cue was absent. Our work provides preliminary support for the transfer of incongruent identity safety cues among multiply marginalized persons.

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