Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 114785 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Journal of business research |
| Volume | 182 |
| Early online date | 28 Jun 2024 |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2024 |
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.
Keywords
- Compliance, Interethnic service encounters, Minority employees, Professional services, Rapport, Social dominance orientation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business, Management and Accounting(all)
- Marketing
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In: Journal of business research, Vol. 182, 114785, 09.2024.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigating the existence of ethnic bias in professional services
AU - Walsh, Gianfranco
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)
PY - 2024/9
Y1 - 2024/9
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Compliance
KW - Interethnic service encounters
KW - Minority employees
KW - Professional services
KW - Rapport
KW - Social dominance orientation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85197481667&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114785
DO - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114785
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85197481667
VL - 182
JO - Journal of business research
JF - Journal of business research
SN - 0148-2963
M1 - 114785
ER -