The Role of Racial Microaggressions and Bicultural Self-Efficacy on Work Volition in Racially Diverse Adults

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between racial microaggressions and work volition in a sample of racially diverse adults ( N = 171) in the United States for this online cross-sectional study. Correlation analyses revealed that higher levels of racial microaggressions across five of the six racial microaggression dimensions (i.e., criminality, environmental invalidations, foreigner, invisibility, and low-achieving/undesirable culture) related to lowered work volition. We explored how the relationship between dimensions of racial microaggressions and work volition varied by level of bicultural self-efficacy. Regression analyses indicated that bicultural self-efficacy significantly moderated the relationship between four dimensions of racial microaggressions (i.e., criminality, invisibility, low- achieving/undesirable culture, and sexualization) and work volition. More specifically, high levels of bicultural self-efficacy buffered some of the effects of these racial microaggressions on work volition. Implications for practice, limitations, and future directions for career research are discussed.