Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

LaBrina Jones

Abstract

AbstractWhite-collar Black employees were more likely to seek different jobs during the Great Resignation because of a lack of career advancement, employer failure to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, employer’s unethical behavior, feeling disrespected, and perceived toxic work culture. As the Great Resignation’s professional, social, and ethical consequences were only emerging, scholars identified a literature gap to position Black employees’ narratives of racial discrimination and perceived toxic work culture in the literature as mechanisms for joining the Great Resignation. The purpose of this qualitative, narrative inquiry study was to gain a deeper understanding of how professional Black employees’ daily experiences with racial discrimination and perceived toxic work culture were triggers for joining the Great Resignation. This study is grounded in Montaudon-Tomas’s concept of the Great Resignation and toxic work culture and Feagin and Eckberg’s concept of racial discrimination. Interview data were collected from six professional Black employees. The critical event approach was the data analysis strategy, from which four conceptual categories emerged: (1) events driving professional Black employees to join the Great Resignation, (2) experiences of professional Black employees with racial discrimination on the job, (3) experiences of professional Black employees with toxic work culture on the job, and (4) lessons learned by professional Black employees after the Great Resignation. The participants expressed hope that their voices may drive positive social change by raising awareness of Black American employees’ experiences and issues that must be diligently addressed to counter long-standing toxic cultures and racial disparities in the U.S. workplace.

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