What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to understand how impression management behaviors impact ethnic minority workers' identities and their connection to organizations.

April 8, 2026Open Access

Selective incivility through impression management and the role of this process in shaping organizational identification among highly skilled ethnic minorities in the Netherlands

Key Points

This research aims to understand how impression management behaviors impact ethnic minority workers' identities and their connection to organizations.
Conducted in-depth interviews with 21 highly skilled ethnic minority employees.
Explored individual experiences regarding selective incivility and identity.
Analyzed the relationship between impression management and organizational identification.
Exposure to selective incivility is a perceived threat to identity for some individuals.
Impression management behaviors enhance the ethnic identity of minority workers.
Stronger organizational identification is linked to proactive behavior against incivility.

Abstract

This study explores the impression management behaviors developed by highly skilled ethnic minority employees in response to selective incivility and how these behaviors reflect their ethnic identity strengthening and organizational identification orientations. The study is based on in-depth interviews with 21 highly skilled ethnic minority working in different sectors. The findings demonstrate that ethnic minority identity is shaped by processes of racialization, but that this identity emerges to different degrees in individuals’ experiences; thus, exposure to selective incivility is perceived as a stronger threat to identity for some participants. The study also reveals that the impression management behaviors exhibited by ethnic minority workers in the face of selective incivility contribute to identity strengthening and shape their identification with the organization.

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