We then investigated whether failure to activate the traits of an ideal leader as well as activation of the traits of an ideal follower each contributed to the poorer leadership perceptions of Asian Americans relative to their majority group (i.e., White) counterparts (Study 2 and 3). First, we examined whether Asian Americans are perceived as lacking (possessing) the traits of an ideal leader (follower) compared to White Americans (Study 1). Therefore, in the present paper, we conducted four studies to ascertain whether Asian Americans are unlikely to activate the traits of an ideal Western leader (e.g., agentic and dynamic) as well as are more likely to activate the traits of an ideal Western follower (e.g., hardworking and team oriented) compared to White Americans and whether each pathway uniquely explains the Asian-White leadership gap. As leadership and followership are traditionally, albeit perhaps inaccurately (Uhl-Bien et al., 2014), viewed as mutually exclusive roles (e.g., Kelley, 1988 Shamir, 2007), Asian Americans being perceived as possessing the traits of an ideal follower relative to other racial groups may lead them to be categorized or viewed as followers to the exclusion of being seen as leaders. In addition to perceptions of Asian Americans’ poorer fit with the traits of an ideal leader, we argue that stereotypes of Asian Americans’ hardworking nature and dutifulness (e.g., Berdahl & Min, 2012 Ho & Jackson, 2001) may also activate traits associated with ideal followers. ( 2010) found that poorer perceptions of Asian Americans as leaders may be due to stereotypes that, despite appearing highly competent, Asian Americans lack the assertiveness and extraversion valued for leadership in the West (e.g., Eagly & Karau, 2002 Kono et al., 2012). The emerging, but limited, research on this topic has found that Asian Americans are often perceived by others as poorer leaders than White Americans (e.g., Festekjian et al., 2014 Lai & Babcock, 2013 Landau, 1995 Lu, 2021 Rosette et al., 2008 Sy et al., 2010). Both in research and practice, important advances have been made toward understanding the leadership challenges faced by other racial minority groups, such as Black or African Americans (e.g., Carton & Rosette, 2011 Linshi, 2014), but relatively little is known regarding the barriers faced by Asian Americans in their advancement to organizational leadership roles. However, in trying to improve racial representation in these critical leadership roles, one racial minority group remains underexamined relative to others: Asian Americans. In fact, organizations whose leadership team’s ethnic composition mirrors that of its employees tend to perform better and report less interpersonal mistreatment (e.g., Erhardt et al., 2003 Lindsey et al., 2017 Miller & Triana, 2009). Yet, we uncover an important boundary condition in that these “good follower” advantages did not accrue when observers experienced threat-revealing how the benefits of so-called positive stereotypes of Asian American workers are context dependent.Īs the modern North American workforce becomes more diverse (Catalyst, 2019 Wilson, 2016), there is a growing call for correspondingly greater racial diversity at the upper echelons of organizations (Alliance for Board Diversity & Deloitte, 2019). ![]() However, compared to their majority group counterparts, we found some unexpected evidence for a more favorable view of Asian Americans as leaders, which was primarily driven by the greater activation of ideal follower traits (i.e., industry and good citizen) among Asian American workers. Across 4 studies, our findings generally supported our arguments regarding the activation of ideal follower traits and lack of activation of ideal leader traits for Asian American workers. ![]() However, we contend that, in addition to poorly activating ideal leader traits, Asian Americans may strongly activate ideal follower traits (e.g., industrious and reliable), and being seen as a good follower may pigeonhole Asian Americans in non-managerial roles. ![]() ![]() The limited research on this topic has found that Asian Americans are perceived by others as poorer leaders than White Americans due to perceptions that Asians lack the ideal traits of a Western leader (i.e., agentic) relative to White Americans. Despite demonstrating high levels of academic and professional competence, Asians are underrepresented in leadership roles in North America.
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