The White standard: Racial bias in leader categorization.

Abstract

In 4 experiments, the authors investigated whether race is perceived to be part of the business leader prototype and, if so, whether it could explain differences in evaluations of White and non-White leaders. The first 2 studies revealed that "being White" is perceived to be an attribute of the business leader prototype, where participants assumed that business leaders more than nonleaders were White, and this inference occurred regardless of base rates about the organization's racial composition (Study 1), the racial composition of organizational roles, the business industry, and the types of racial minority groups in the organization (Study 2). The final 2 studies revealed that a leader categorization explanation could best account for differences in White and non-White leader evaluations, where White targets were evaluated as more effective leaders (Study 3) and as having more leadership potential (Study 4), but only when the leader had recently been given credit for organizational success, consistent with the prediction that leader prototypes are more likely to be used when they confirm and reinforce individualized information about a leader's performance. The results demonstrate a connection between leader race and leadership categorization.

Reconsidering the accuracy of follower leadership ratings

“…For example, raters perceive non-whites as less effective leaders and less likely to succeed than whites. Moreover, social perceivers give non-whites less credit for their success and hold lower expectations for their future success (Rosette, Leonardelli, & Phillips, 2008). Similarly, Asian Americans are significantly less likely to be viewed as leaders than Caucasian Americans (Sy et al, 2010).…”

Career Mobility in a Global Era: Advances in Managing Expatriation and Repatriation

“…The practitioner literature is silent on the issue and no figures are available, even though non-discriminatory legislation has been in place for over half a century in the US (The Civil Rights Act of 1964) and in the Western democracies since the 1970s and 1980s. In the general management literature (i.e., non-E&R), there is a growing body of research that shows that respondents in the US, including non-whites, generally perceive leaders as white males (Rosette, Leonardelli & Phillips, 2008). Similarly, other studies suggest that black CEOs benefit from the "teddybear effect" more so than their white counterparts.…”

Intergroup anxiety, cultural sensitivity and socio-cultural diverse leaders’ effectiveness

“…The lowest reliability was obtained for the case that represented a leader with different religious affiliation, and the highest for the prototypical casejust as suggested in the introduction (e.g., Rosette, Leonardelli & Phillips, 2008); the leadership prototype is usually associated to male gender, reason why the prototypical case corresponds with the male leader.…”

“…Prejudices arise when people hold stereotypes that are incompatible with leadership roles (Eagly & Diekman, 2005). Beyond the fact that there might be differences according to context in which the leader acts (Lord, Brown, Harvey & Hall, 2001), generally speaking, leadership has been associated to Caucasian male stereotype (Rosette, Leonardelli & Phillips, 2008), let alone the higher number of research studies originating in North America (Den Hartog & Dickson, 2004). This is how the leader's prototype is usually characterized by attributes such as power, ambition,…”