The Experience of Mechanistic Dehumanization of Asian Workers in the US: A Mixed-Methods Scale Development Study

Asians and Asian Americans have long faced biased perceptions and mistreatment at work in the United States (US). Recent research has identified mechanistic dehumanization—likening individuals to mechanistic non-human entities, such as robots and machines—as a unique form of bias against Asian workers, distinct from model minority and perpetual foreigner stereotypes. Building on this finding, the current dissertation examines the various ways in which Asian workers experience mechanistic dehumanization and develops a multidimensional scale to measure it. In Study 1 (N = 33), in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Asian workers in the US revealed seven themes: instrumentalization, technicalization, trivialization, denied agency, denied emotionality, denied basic human rights and dignity, and denied sociality. In Study 2 (N = 581), I generated scale items based on these themes, and exploratory factor analysis results supported a seven-factor structure. Study 3 (N = 100) provided content validity evidence, suggesting that the items captured the content of their intended dimension. Study 4a (N = 327) replicated the seven-factor structure using confirmatory factor analysis. In Study 4b (N = 845), I refined the scale to 37 items. The scale demonstrated configural, metric, and scalar measurement invariance across ethnic groups (East, South, and Southeast Asians) and gender groups (men and women), while also uncovering subgroup differences in reported levels of mechanistic dehumanization. Finally, Study 5 (N = 217) provided convergent and discriminant validity evidence: mechanistic dehumanization positively correlated with conceptually related constructs (e.g., organizational dehumanization, workplace incivility, experienced perpetual foreigner stereotype) and showed weak associations with theoretically tangential variables (e.g., social desirability, personality traits). Together, the findings offer a novel, multidimensional framework for understanding how Asian workers in the US experience mechanistic dehumanization.