{"title":"Investigating the existence of ethnic bias in professional services","authors":"Gianfranco Walsh","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114785","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The underrepresentation of ethnic minorities persists in professional service organizations because some are reluctant to hire minority employees owing to fear of negative customer evaluations. I apply expectancy violation theory to challenge the assumptions behind such hiring practice and predict that in unambiguous service encounters between majority customers and minority professional service providers (PSP) detrimental consequences are less salient. In four scenario-based studies in two contexts (lawyer, physician), I manipulate PSP ethnicity status and find that clients rate minority (vs. majority) PSPs more favorably in terms of competence, satisfaction, and rapport; rapport also mediates the relationship between PSP ethnicity status and clients’ compliance with their advice. This relationship is moderated by social dominance orientation too. A fifth study shows that the predicted relationships largely hold for positively and negatively valenced encounters. These results suggest an absence of bias effects in professional service settings and have implications for research and practice.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296324002893/pdfft?md5=7fa21c6cd04dcdb09fce7c32ee15a3fa&pid=1-s2.0-S0148296324002893-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Business Research","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296324002893","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The underrepresentation of ethnic minorities persists in professional service organizations because some are reluctant to hire minority employees owing to fear of negative customer evaluations. I apply expectancy violation theory to challenge the assumptions behind such hiring practice and predict that in unambiguous service encounters between majority customers and minority professional service providers (PSP) detrimental consequences are less salient. In four scenario-based studies in two contexts (lawyer, physician), I manipulate PSP ethnicity status and find that clients rate minority (vs. majority) PSPs more favorably in terms of competence, satisfaction, and rapport; rapport also mediates the relationship between PSP ethnicity status and clients’ compliance with their advice. This relationship is moderated by social dominance orientation too. A fifth study shows that the predicted relationships largely hold for positively and negatively valenced encounters. These results suggest an absence of bias effects in professional service settings and have implications for research and practice.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Business Research aims to publish research that is rigorous, relevant, and potentially impactful. It examines a wide variety of business decision contexts, processes, and activities, developing insights that are meaningful for theory, practice, and/or society at large. The research is intended to generate meaningful debates in academia and practice, that are thought provoking and have the potential to make a difference to conceptual thinking and/or practice. The Journal is published for a broad range of stakeholders, including scholars, researchers, executives, and policy makers. It aids the application of its research to practical situations and theoretical findings to the reality of the business world as well as to society. The Journal is abstracted and indexed in several databases, including Social Sciences Citation Index, ANBAR, Current Contents, Management Contents, Management Literature in Brief, PsycINFO, Information Service, RePEc, Academic Journal Guide, ABI/Inform, INSPEC, etc.