Connecting With Others: Diversity Training Shapes Egalitarian Orientations

Abstract

Despite considerable resources invested in diversity training, there has been a paucity of studies that examine the enduring impact of diversity training. The current study was conducted in a workplace setting and is a quasi-experimental empirical evaluation of a widely used diversity training program that includes a daylong workshop and 8 weeks of structured interracial interactions. We examined the effects of this program on diversity-relevant outcomes—motivational, ideological, and attitudinal—over 2 months later. Although the program features content and assigns activities intended to reduce social biases in general, this examination focuses on biases toward Black Americans. In a pre-test/post-test analysis of employees who participated in training, we found that participants reported a significantly lower social dominance orientation (SDO) and significantly more motivation to be nonprejudiced 2 months after the training compared to before. Converging results were observed such that employees who participated in the training program exhibited significantly lower SDO and exhibited marginally higher internal motivation to respond without prejudice compared to employees in a control group who did not participate. No differences were observed for explicit attitudes, implicit bias, or right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). The current study thus documents that diversity interventions administered in “real-world” contexts can have a relatively long-term impact on egalitarian orientations. The research also highlights the need for further investigation of how specific elements of the program (e.g., the training itself, the nature, and duration of interracial contact exercises), and the way they are implemented, may or may not affect different outcomes.