07/20/2021
By Michelle Haynes-Baratz

The College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation defense by Tugba Metinyurt on “Harnessing the Power of Bystanders to Address Workplace Microaggressions: An Application of Socio-Ecological Framework and Theory of Planned Behavior.”

Candidate Name: Tugba Metinyurt
Date: Thursday, July 29, 2021
Time: 11 a.m. to noon
Location: Via Zoom. Please email Tugba_Metinyurt@student.uml.edu for information.
Thesis/Dissertation Title: “Harnessing the Power of Bystanders to Address Workplace Microaggressions: An Application of Socio-Ecological Framework and Theory of Planned Behavior”
Advisor: Michelle Haynes-Baratz, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Committee Members:

  • Meg A. Bond, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Joseph E. Gonzales, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Brief Abstract:
The overarching goal of this dissertation is to develop a comprehensive picture of the factors that encourage and discourage bystander behavior in the face of subtle workplace bias, with the ultimate goal of informing theoretically driven, evidence-based intervention programs for long-lasting bias reduction. In this work, I invoke a socio-ecological lens (Bronfenbrenner, 2005) that takes into consideration multitude of factors on individual, interpersonal, organizational, and societal levels - and interactions among levels - in order to harness the power of bystanders as well as inform evidence-based interventions tailored to each level. Specifically, in the series of studies, I investigate the relationship among individual, social and organizational factors that can identify when, why and how coworkers as bystanders supplant silence with action. Additionally, I examine bystander behavior within a behavioral framework (i.e., Theory of Planned Behavior), specifically as a function of three determinants of bystander behavior: coworkers` attitudes toward becoming an active bystander, subjective norms, and perceived self-efficacy and intervention intentions.