Perceptions of Consumer Racial Profiling and Negative Emotions: An Exploratory Study

Racial profiling has been an interest among society and scholars for several years. The main focus of racial profiling has been on law enforcement's use of the technique, with little investigation of it occurring in consumer environments, that is, consumer racial profiling (CRP). Moreover, even less research has focused on the negative emotions that occur as a result of perceptions of CRP. Using data from a telephone survey of citizens of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the present study indicates that perceptions of experiencing CRP do result in negative emotions. Furthermore, the present study identifies a profile of individuals who are likely to experience these negative emotions due to perceptions of CRP. The implications of these findings are discussed.