Communicative Efforts in Workplace Microaggressions

Given the limited exploration of microaggression within the field of communication, this dissertation explores how communicative efforts can help to address workplace microaggressions. By employing a mixed-method approach, this dissertation investigates minoritized employees’ situational perceptions and coping strategies toward workplace microaggressions, and how organizations’ communication strategies, i.e., intervention messages, can enhance their problem awareness and active coping efforts.  Study One conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with female African American employees (N=8) and Asian American employees (N=11) to understand their lived experiences, situational perceptions, and coping efforts toward workplace microaggressions. Study Two conducted an online experiment with female African American employees (N=235) and Asian American employees (N=184) to examine the intervention message design on workplace microaggression. Theoretical implications for both communication discipline and microaggression literature, as well as practical implications for theory-based intervention programs for workplace microaggressions, are discussed.