The harmful effects of racial code-switching

What is it about?

Have you ever tried to speak, act, and dress in a way that is not "normal" to your racial norms, but you still do it so as to fit in professional settings? This is what we call racial code-switching. Although previous literature show that racial code-switching increase perceived professionalism and get you interview opportunities, our research showed that racial code-switching is bad for you (in terms of getting you depression) and bad for the industry (in terms of getting you to think about leaving the hospitality industry as a whole).

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Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This is one of the first studies that verify the negative effect of racial code-switching on psychological outcomes (i.e., depression). We showed the psychological mechanism that identity threat and shame mediates the effects. By showing that the depression can increase industry turnover intention, we demonstrates the industry-wide harmful effects of racial code-switching.