When excuses don't work: The persistent injustice effect among black managers

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Davidson, M; Friedman, RA
• 署名单位: Dartmouth College; Vanderbilt University
• 刊物名称: ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE QUARTERLY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-8392
• DOI: 10.2307/2393594
• 发表日期: 1998
• 页码: 154-183
• 关键词: SOCIAL ACCOUNTS; explanations; CONFLICT; RACE; ORGANIZATION; minorities; teachers; layoff; women; BIAS

摘要

In this paper, we examine the underlying dynamics of the differences between blacks' and whites' responses to social accounts-explanations or excuses for negative actions and events. Across four studies we found that when black respondents observed unjust behaviors toward a hypothetical black victim, social accounts had a weak impact on perceptions of injustice, confirming the presence of what we call the persistent injustice effect. We also found that social accounts have a weaker impact on perceptions of injustice than on disapproval of the harm-doer and posit that the persistent injustice effect results from a combination of in-group identification with the victim and the respondent's personal experiences with injustice. These two factors, we theorize, combine to create greater empathy for the victim.