Multicultural Ideology Among Chilean Municipal Workers: the role of prejudice and intercultural sensitivity

Gonzalo Martínez-Zelaya¹María José Mera-Lemp^1*Florencia Guglielmetti-Serrano²Marian Bilbao³

• ¹Escuela de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales, Universidad Viña del Mar, Viña del Mar, V Valparaíso Region, Chile
• ²Gabriela Mistral University, Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile
• ³Faculty of Psychology, Alberto Hurtado University, Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile

Municipal employees are key actors in managing intercultural interactions in increasingly diverse public service settings. This study examined the relationships between prejudice, intercultural sensitivity, and multicultural ideology among Chilean municipal workers. A total of 197 participants completed an online questionnaire that included validated measures of these constructs, along with sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, educational level, religiosity, and contact with immigrant users. A structural equation model was estimated using the DWLS estimator for ordinal data. The model showed good fit indices (CFI = 0.996; TLI = 0.996; RMSEA = 0.021; SRMR = 0.086). The results revealed that prejudice negatively predicted all dimensions of intercultural sensitivity, which in turn positively predicted support for cultural diversity and negatively predicted support for intercultural homogeneity. Female gender, higher educational level, and more frequent contact with immigrants were associated with lower levels of prejudice. These findings highlight the mediating role of intercultural sensitivity in the relationship between underlying prejudicial attitudes and ideological support for multiculturalism. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of affective pathways toward acceptance of diversity and offers practical implications for the design of training and policies that promote inclusive attitudes among municipal employees.