A Qualitative Vignette Study of Perceived Barriers and Facilitators of Bystanders in Racism in the Higher Education Context in Finland

Bystanders play a potentially important role in intervening in incidents of
racism, but they often fail to act. Much research has focused on investigating
facilitators and barriers to bystander behavior, but mainly in the context
of sexual violence. There is a dearth of research in the context of racism,
especially outside the English-speaking world. In this pilot study, we employed
a qualitative approach to explore bystander facilitators and barriers in
higher education students in Finland. Online participants (N = 649) read
two vignettes depicting a racist incident and wrote open-ended answers on
factors that would facilitate and prevent intervention. We constructed six
main themes using an inductive thematic analysis: (i) Perceived self-efficacy to
intervene; (ii) Justification and moral reasoning; (iii) Clarity of the situation;
(iv) Responsibility and permission to act; (v) Social relationships, support,
and presence of others; and (vi) Consequences and impacts of action. We
discuss the results with a reference to theories and literature, as well as the
unique context of Finland.