IU Indianapolis ScholarWorks :: Browsing by Author "Derricks, Veronica"

Browsing by Author "Derricks, Veronica"

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Are Black, Male Leaders Expected to Help Other Black Americans in the Workplace?
(2024-08) Yan, Sisley; Williams, Jane; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Derricks, Veronica
Experimental vignette methodology was utilized to investigate the relationships between leader group prototypicality, identity denial, and three leader outcomes (i.e., charisma, trust, and endorsement). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: general advocacy (control), ingroup advocacy, and ingroup anti-advocacy. We hypothesized that a Black, male target displaying ingroup advocacy behaviors would be perceived most favorably while a Black, male target displaying ingroup anti-advocacy behaviors would be perceived most poorly. Furthermore, we predicted that identity denial, measured via perceived racial identification, would serve as a mediator. Overall, we found support for our hypotheses, with the exception being that there were no significant differences in leader outcome ratings when comparing the general advocacy condition to the ingroup advocacy condition, even despite the significant mediation throughout all conditions. In summary, Black Americans on average do not expect a Black, male leader to help other Black employees, but he is expected to not devalue or trivialize his Black identity. Doing so would lead to identity denial and less positive evaluations. In contrast, standing in solidarity with the ingroup increases the leader’s perceived racial identification the most and this in turn helps to bolster leader outcomes. Although future research should test climate change as a valid control condition, our pattern of findings suggests that environmental sustainability should be a safe topic for a Black, male leader to advocate for if he wishes to remain more neutral on matters pertaining to race.
Diversity-Valuing Behaviors as a Performance Asset instead of a Liability: The Role of DEI Accountability Mechanisms
(2023-06) Washington, Darius M.; Stockdale, Margaret S.; Derricks, Veronica; Johnson, India R.
Women and racial minorities are perceived negatively when they engage in diversity-valuing behaviors (i.e., behaviors that promote demographic balance), which increases negative perceptions of their competence and performance effectiveness in modern organizations. Although organizational attention to the topics of workplace equity and inclusion has increased, Black women continue to be excluded from leadership positions motivated by race and sex-based judgments of intellectual inferiority and leadership incongruity. Diversity management continues to be an important research domain to ensure the effective implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) relevant strategies to reduce bias and discrimination. This work infuses accountability for DEI into a performance management system to address the backlash Black women receive for engaging in DEI-relevant behaviors. I used accountability for DEI as a relevant structure to test whether holding employees accountable for diversity-valuing behavior (i.e., promoting DEI goals) through competence mitigates negative performance evaluation and promotion rating of a Black woman. In the current study, MTurk participants (N = 280) with employment experience were surveyed about their evaluation of performance and promotion ratings. Participants were randomly assigned to receive information about dimensions of an employee’s annual evaluation, including “Diversity and Inclusion” (DEI accountability condition) or “Corporate Social Environmental Responsibility” (CSR; control condition). Dependent on participant condition, participants received more information about extra-role behaviors (i.e., diversity-valuing behavior vs. organizational citizenship behaviors) demonstrated by a Black woman. Results were not statistically significant but showed that participants reported more favorable performance evaluation and promotion ratings toward the fictitious employee in the DEI accountability condition who engaged in diversity-valuing behavior compared to the fictitious employee in the CSR (control condition) who engaged in diversity-valuing behavior. These results suggest that organizations that embed a framework for measuring and evaluating DEI efforts among all employees may reduce negative competence perceptions, which in turn, can help mitigate negative performance evaluations and increase promotion ratings among Black women.
Dress to Repress: Exploring How Dress Codes & Norms Harm Black Women in the Workplace
(2024-06) Beecham, Jasmine Grace; Derricks, Veronica; Pietri, Evava S.; Johnson, India; Williams, Jane; Dumortier, Jerome
Dress codes were originally based on safety practices but have evolved into standards around perceived professionalism that uphold White masculine norms in the workplace. At the crossroads of White male standards is Black women’s hairstyling habits. While some Black women may engage in impression management and straighten their hair to fit in more, others may not feel authentic with straightened hair and could choose to deliberately express their identity through their hairstyle. Across two studies, I examine whether dress codes and norms targeting natural Black hairstyling habits lead to threats to authenticity and identity safety, in turn leading to negative organizational outcomes. A measure of one’s desire to deliberately express identity (general and Black) through hair was included to examine potential moderation. In Study 1, participants were randomly assigned to one of three hypothetical dress code conditions – a restrictive dress code, inclusive dress code, or a control of general company values with no dress information. Hypotheses were almost fully supported in Study 1, with restrictive dress codes having the lowest identity safety and authenticity outcomes and inclusive having the highest. The contrast between restrictive vs inclusive dress codes and the subsequent authenticity outcome was moderated by both Hair Identity & Hair Expression Importance. Hair Expression Importance also moderated the relationship between restrictive vs inclusive dress codes and identity threat. Lower feelings of authenticity and identity safety both led to lower feelings of organizational attraction (for all moderator models). In Study 2, participants all saw the same inclusive dress code for the company and were then randomly assigned to one of three dress norms – unaccepting, accepting, or an unknown norms control. Unaccepting dress norms led to the lowest feelings of authenticity and identity safety and accepting dress norms led to the highest. Unlike in Study 1, neither hair scale moderated the relationship between the dress norms contrasts and authenticity. Unexpectedly, Hair Expression Importance partially moderated the relationship between dress norms and identity threat. Lower feelings of authenticity once again led to lower organizational attraction, but identity safety did not act as a significant predictor (for all moderator models).
Effects of Feedback Seeking Behavior on Supervisor Perceptions: Examining the Interaction of Seeking Frequency With Supervisor Implicit Person Theory and Feedback Orientation
(2024-05) Schneider, Jacob; Williams, Jane; Stockdale, Margaret; Derricks, Veronica
Feedback seeking is an essential process for employees to improve performance and clarify expectations (Renn & Fedor, 2001; Ashford & Tsui, 199). Certain factors such as ego and image defense limit feedback seeking in the workplace due to avoidance of negative outcomes (Ashford & Cummings, 1983), however we know less about whether feedback seeking does lead to actual negative outcomes for the employee (Ashford, De Stobbeleir, & Nujella, 2016). The current study examines the existence of actual costs to the seeker for seeking more frequently and adds to the literature by examining whether supervisor individual differences are related to perceptions of seeking behavior, namely implicit person theory and feedback orientation. With a sample of 275 adult supervisors recruited from Mturk, the current study measured participants on these individual differences and assessed perceptions of a fictional employee who either sought feedback with high or low frequency. The employee was rated on a selection of performance potential outcomes related to promotability, expectations of future performance, willingness to mentor, and candidacy for career development opportunities. Findings suggest there is a cost associated with seeking feedback at a higher frequency which manifests as a decrease in perceptions of confidence in the employee. Additionally, this perception of lower confidence from seeking feedback could contribute to more significant downstream outcomes such as expectations of lower quality performance and lower likelihood of being promoted. By understanding more about individuals’ perceptions of feedback seeking behavior, we may train supervisors how to be more receptive of different feedback seeking behavior. This could assist in fostering a performance improvement environment that ultimately improves organizational performance.
Employee and Supervisor (Mis)Matching IPT and Performance Management Consequences
(2022-05) Findley, Mya; Williams, Jane; Stockdale, Margaret; Derricks, Veronica
Although performance management (PM) is a common, vital system used in most organizations, both supervisors and employees have been routinely disappointed with PM experiences, despite extensive research. Recent studies have identified certain individual differences that impact PM effectiveness. Specifically, the inclination to believe that one’s core traits are either malleable (an incremental mindset; high IPT) or fixed (an entity mindset; low IPT), a concept called "implicit person theory" (IPT), predicts many important supervisor behaviors that subsequently influence employee’s behaviors and attitudes. Furthermore, there is substantial support indicating that employee IPT also predicts their own performance, behaviors, and attitudes. This research shows the many benefits of having a high IPT over a low IPT. In this study, I examined the matching or mismatching IPT between employees and their respective supervisors and whether this differentially predicts employee attitudes that relate to PM. Responses were gathered from 211 participants. In an initial survey, participants were asked to report their IPT and their perceptions of their supervisor’s IPT. Two days later, participants reported their perceptions of procedural justice, satisfaction with PM, and motivation to improve performance. Employee perceptions of procedural justice and satisfaction were combined into a single measure measuring general affective reactions to PM, after an exploratory factor analysis revealed the two outcomes loaded onto a single factor. PROCESS Model 1 was used to examine the central hypothesis. I found significant interactions of employee and supervisor IPT on motivation and affective reactions to PM. The relationship between employee IPT and motivation was positive and strongest when supervisors had a high IPT, and was positive but weaker when supervisors had a low IPT. Interestingly, the relationship between employee IPT and affective reactions was negative when supervisors had a low IPT, such that low IPT employees reported better affective reactions to PM when they perceived their supervisors to have a low IPT rather than a high IPT. This research contributes to the literature by demonstrating the nuances of how IPT predicts employee outcomes. Organizations can benefit from this research by increasing awareness of one’s IPT and implementing cultural changes alongside interventions to increase favorable outcomes.
Examining the Effects of Targeting Health Information to Black Americans
(Center for Translating Research Into Practice, IU Indianapolis, 2022-02-11) Derricks, Veronica
In this presentation, Professor Veronica Derricks shares information about ongoing research in which she works with Black community leaders and primary care physicians to develop messaging interventions that will improve clinicians' delivery of targeted communication to Black Americans.
Health vs Success: Examining Whether Exposure to Negative Stereotypes Motivates Engagement in Unhealthy Behaviors among Low-SES College Students
(2023-11) Gonzalez, Daniela; Derricks, Veronica; Johnson, India R.; Hirsh, Adam T.
Individuals from low socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds experience worse health outcomes than high-SES individuals. Those disparities may be explained, at least in part, by low-SES individuals' routine exposure to stigma that can activate concerns about belonging in several settings, including academics. The current study tested whether activation of negative stereotypes (e.g., low academic ability) among low-SES students affects their motivation to engage in unhealthy behaviors (e.g., pulling an "all-nighter") in an effort to maximize academic success and disconfirm negative stereotypes about their group. Moreover, we assessed the role of key moderators (e.g., contingencies of self-worth in academic settings and stereotype threat concerns about one’s ingroup) and mediators (e.g., motivation to disconfirm negative ingroup stereotypes and stereotype threat concerns) on these outcomes. In an online experiment, college students recruited on Prolific Academic read a hypothetical news article indicating that low-SES students underperform academically relative to high-SES students (stereotype activation condition) or that low-SES students perform just as well as high-SES students (control condition). Although the findings indicated that our manipulation was effective, our results did not reach significance across the hypothesized outcomes. Implications for coping behaviors and academic outcomes for students from low-SES backgrounds are discussed.
Introduction to Veronica Derricks & Her Work
(Center for Translating Research Into Practice, IU Indianapolis, 2022-02) Derricks, Veronica
Professor Veronica Derricks briefly discusses her translational research that addresses racial disparities in targeted healthcare communication among minority groups.
Patient activation reduces effects of implicit bias on doctor-patient interactions
(National Academy of Science, 2022) Gainsburg, Izzy; Derricks, Veronica; Shields, Cleveland; Fiscella, Kevin; Epstein, Ronald; Yu, Veronica; Griggs, Jennifer; Psychology, School of Science
Disparities between Black and White Americans persist in medical treatment and health outcomes. One reason is that physicians sometimes hold implicit racial biases that favor White (over Black) patients. Thus, disrupting the effects of physicians' implicit bias is one route to promoting equitable health outcomes. In the present research, we tested a potential mechanism to short-circuit the effects of doctors' implicit bias: patient activation, i.e., having patients ask questions and advocate for themselves. Specifically, we trained Black and White standardized patients (SPs) to be "activated" or "typical" during appointments with unsuspecting oncologists and primary care physicians in which SPs claimed to have stage IV lung cancer. Supporting the idea that patient activation can promote equitable doctor-patient interactions, results showed that physicians' implicit racial bias (as measured by an implicit association test) predicted racially biased interpersonal treatment among typical SPs (but not among activated SPs) across SP ratings of interaction quality and ratings from independent coders who read the interaction transcripts. This research supports prior work showing that implicit attitudes can undermine interpersonal treatment in medical settings and provides a strategy for ensuring equitable doctor-patient interactions.
Real and Perceived Discordance in Physicians and U.S. Adults’ Beliefs Regarding the Causes and Controllability of Type 2 Diabetes
(Taylor & Francis, 2021) Derricks, Veronica; Mosher, Jeremy; Earl, Allison; Jayaratne, Toby E.; Shubrook, Jay H.
Discordance between physicians and patients’ health beliefs can impede health communication efforts. However, little research considers physicians’ perceptions of patient beliefs, despite the importance of perceptions in shaping communication. In the current work, we examine instances of actual and perceived discordance between physicians and U.S. adults’ beliefs regarding the causes and controllability of type 2 diabetes. 229 family physicians completed an online survey measuring their health beliefs and perceptions of their patients’ beliefs. Physicians’ responses were contrasted against beliefs from a national survey sample of 1,168 U.S. adults. T-tests assessed whether (a) physicians’ beliefs diverged from the national sample’s beliefs (actual discordance), (b) physicians perceived that their health beliefs diverged from their patients’ beliefs (perceived discordance), and (c) physicians’ perceptions of patient beliefs diverged from the national sample’s beliefs (accuracy of perceived discordance). Findings revealed evidence of actual discordance; compared to the national sample, physicians were more likely to attribute type 2 diabetes to genes (versus lifestyle factors) and perceived greater control over developing diabetes. Moreover, although physicians perceived discordance between their own and their patients’ beliefs, data from the national sample suggested that these gaps were less substantial than physicians expected. In particular, findings showed that physicians generally overestimated discordance, expecting that people would be less likely to (1) attribute the development of diabetes to lifestyle factors (versus genes), and (2) perceive control over developing diabetes, than was actually reported. Implications of actual and perceived discordance for effective health communication and patient education are discussed.

Browsing by Author "Derricks, Veronica"

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