Biased Perceptions of Racially Diverse Teams and Their Consequences for Resource Support

Robert B. Lount (), Oliver J. Sheldon (), Floor Rink () and Katherine W. Phillips ()
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Robert B. Lount: Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
Oliver J. Sheldon: Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey 07102
Floor Rink: University of Groningen, 9747 AE Groningen, Netherlands
Katherine W. Phillips: Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027

Organization Science, 2015, vol. 26, issue 5, 1351-1364

Abstract: We examine whether observers hold biases that can negatively affect how racially diverse teams are evaluated, and ultimately treated, relative to racially homogeneous groups. In three experiments, which held the actual content of observed behavior constant across diverse and homogeneous teams, observers were less willing to allocate additional resources to diverse teams. Through applying both statistical mediation (Studies 1 and 2) and moderation-of-process methods (Study 3), our findings supported the expectation that biased perceptions of relationship conflict accounted for this reduced support of diverse teams. Implications for diverse teams in organizations are discussed.

Keywords: social category diversity; racial diversity; relationship conflict; resource allocation; biases; perception (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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