Gendered Ethnic Harassment at Work and Impaired Well-Being: The Moderating Effects of Victims’ Gendered Ethnic Identity Centrality, Gender, and Ethnic Background

Abstract This study examined the effects of gendered ethnic harassment on impaired well-being, and the potential moderating roles of gendered ethnic identity centrality as well as gender and ethnic background. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from 275 U.K.-resident workers (50.2% female, 49.8% male; 50.2% ethnically diverse [i.e., Asian, Black, Indian, ‘other’], 49.8% White). Aligned with official statistics, ethnically diverse respondents were younger than White respondents. Respondents’ age was not controlled for in analyses, in order to allow meaningful comparisons between real groups of people with different ethnic background. Gendered ethnic harassment was associated with higher anxiety and higher depression. Gendered ethnic identity centrality buffered the effects of gendered ethnic harassment on lower job satisfaction and lower life satisfaction, irrespective of gender and ethnic background, and on higher depression in White men. For ethnically diverse women with low gendered ethnic identity centrality, the effect of gendered ethnic harassment on higher anxiety was aggravated. The findings show that contextual factors may help explain inconclusive research evidence about identity centrality’s potential buffering role. With view to organisational practice, identity-blind and identity-conscious diversity and inclusion practices must be used simultaneously, in order to increase people’s positive well-being and to keep people’s negative well-being at a minimum.