Please Feel Free to Intervene: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Consequences of Bystander Behavioral Expectations

Bias incidents in the workplace can create a pattern of behavior that damages organizational climate not only for victims but also bystanders who witness these incidents. Using incivility and threat ridigity research as a guiding framework, we explore the mitigating potential of bystander intervention on the relationship between bias incidents and witnesses' perceived workplace climate and intention to leave. We developed and tested a moderated mediation model using time-lagged ordinary least squares (OLS) regression with data from organizational climate surveys administered annually from 2014 to 2017. Results confirmed that bias incidents increase turnover intentions through their negative effect on workplace climate. More importantly, the expectation that faculty colleagues will intervene if a bias incident occurs mitigates the negative impact of bias incidents on workplace climate. Our findings suggest that raising awareness about bias incidents, encouraging colleagues to intervene when bias incidents occur, and, most critically, fostering a culture in which intervention is expected have great potential for improving workplace climate and reducing employee turnover. This is the first research study that provides empirical evidence of the potential for bystander intervention expectations to mitigate the negative effect of bias incidents on workplace climate.