An empirical examination of inter-ethnic stereotypes: comparing Asian American and African American employees.

Several studies indicate that in the United States, those who are EuroAmerican, male, heterosexual, and physically abled inherit the highest-status demographic profile--automatically. (1) The dominant group retains the power to define, position, and assign a relative ranking in the hierarchy for its own group and for subordinate groups. (2) According to status incongruency theory, demographic characteristics are arranged in a hierarchy in the following "pecking order:"--males have more status than females, and within gender Whites, Chinese, Native Americans, Japanese, Mexicans, and Blacks are hierarchically arranged by race. (3) Even within the U.S. Asian community, the darker South Asian is often considered Black, a designation reflected in higher unemployment rates than Japanese or Chinese experience. (4) An individual's position in the hierarchy has a profound influence on job-related outcomes, such as decisions about whom to hire and fire, whom to select for key training and project assignments, and whom to promote.

Although status incongruency theory predicts that Asian Americans have greater status than African Americans, empirical work testing this assumption is scant. As Kohatsu and colleagues (5) argue: "Little is known about the extent of racial stereotyping, racial contact, cultural knowledge, racial mistrust, and emotional valence attached to racial stereotypes. Researchers have not examined in any comprehensive way racism or racial attitudes among Asians, Latinos, or American Indians. Specifically, little research has been done on racial attitudes and racism among these groups toward other people of color." (6) Asians in particular have been virtually excluded from race relations research, primarily due to their positive image as well adjusted and successful. (7) In this article, we explore ways in which two racial groups, Asian Americans and African Americans, are perceived in workplace scenarios. Job type, physical appearance, and demographic traits are viewed in tandem to paint a more comprehensive picture of how these two groups are contrasted.

Demographic Status and Stereotyping

The lower the status in the hierarchy, the more negative the stereotypes and the greater the disadvantages. (8) Stereotypes have led to negative attributions for minorities: e.g., perceptions of the disabled as disruptive, unable to perform, threatening, and contagious; (9) women as frivolous, demure, and passive; (10) and racial minorities as incompetent and managerially unfit. (11) Conversely, the model minority stereotype of Asian-American employees posits that these individuals have certain characteristics deemed important for workplace success, at least at levels below top management. In a recent experiment, Asian-American males remained unharmed by the stigma of affirmative action, while Hispanic and African-American males hired under the same initiative were considered less qualified. (12) Traits typically attributed to Asian Americans include hard work, productivity, thrift, punctuality, and obedience to authority. Such stereotypes suggest that Asian-American job candidates and employees will have an advantage over those who are African American. A job candidate who looks like an Asian-American woman will thus find that her appearance alone plays a major role in how she is assessed and in her career progression. Furthermore, status incongruency theory predicts that her assessment will be quite different from assessments made of Asian-American men, African-American men, or African-American women with similar qualifications.

African-American stereotypes (especially those of men) tend to be most unlike qualities that managers look for in job candidates. Negative stereotypes include lack of intelligence, laziness, irresponsibility, and a tendency to blame others for their problems. (13) African-American men especially are stereotyped as resentful, angry, and even violent, while the women are viewed as more stable, cooperative, and hard working than men. (14) In fact, African-American women have a higher labor force participation than European-American or Latina women. (15) During the period 1979--1989, the proportion of African-American women in the labor force increased from 53 percent to 60 percent; their participation was higher than that for European women. (16) They are seen as more serious about work because potential employers assign less sex role stereotypes than they would to European-American women: African-American women are not seen as being in the business world to find a husband, nor viewed as requiring "delicate" treatment because of their femininity. (17) They have been portrayed as strong, independent, striving, and assertive; (18) more ambitious and motivated; (19) and more highly educated than African-American men. Further, African-American women have made greater occupational strides compared to European-American women than African-American men have made in comparison with European-American men. (20)

The hierarchy that follows from the above analysis is 1. Asian-American men; 2. Asian-American women; 3. African-American women; and 4. African-American men. African-American women may be stereotyped as possessing more desired job qualities than African American men, contrary to the prediction of status incongruency theory. African-American men appear to suffer from "reverse exposure." As suggested by the "exposure hypothesis," (21) African-American men may be viewed less positively because of socio-political conditions and the media: e.g., African-American men are sent to prison on drug charges at a rate 27 to 57 times higher than EuroAmerican men. (22)

Race and gender research viewed in combination indicate that Asian-American job candidates will be perceived as having more traits necessary for job success than their African American counterparts. Because a job candidate's or employee's appearance has an impact on how his or her qualifications will be assessed, we hypothesize the following:

Hypothesis 1: Employees with an Asian-American appearance will be assessed more favorably than those with an African-American appearance.

Hypothesis 2: A hierarchy of appearance will exist with regard to assessment: Asian-American men, Asian-American women, African-American women, and African-American men.

Job Type

As Welbourne, Johnson, and Erez (23) argue: "Role theory suggests that employee performance will be a function of both the individual and the organization." (24) Blacks are often funneled into "race-appropriate" jobs, such as public relations and affirmative action, (25) whereas Asians, stereotyped as "technically superior," are slotted for technical positions. As a result of the "Bamboo Ceiling," (26) Asian Americans are over-represented in technical positions and underrepresented in managerial slots and governmental posts. (27) Because there is little research or theory regarding race and job type, we couch the following as research questions:

Research Question 1: Will African Americans be considered more appropriate for the job of human resource manager?

Research Question 2: Will Asian Americans will be considered more appropriate for the job of engineer?

Method

Participants

We disseminated information about the career histories of employees who worked in a fictitious corporation to 127 undergraduate students enrolled in advanced business courses at a West Coast university in the United States. Average respondent full-time work experience was 3.13 years, and average part-time work experience was 2.39 years. A total of 24 students reported currently working full time. The sample contained 32 EuroAmericans and 95 persons of color (11 Latino Americans, 5 African Americans, 78 Asian Americans, and 1 American Indian). Mean respondent age was 25.28 years.

The design was a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial, with independent variables of race (African American/Asian American), gender (male/female) and job type (chemical engineer/human resource officer). Each was classified as either an engineer or a human resources specialist, and was either an Asian-American or African-American male or female. All had the same qualifications, experience, and work history. All variables were between-group measures so the purpose of the study would not be apparent. Average cell size per condition was 15.88.

Procedures

Distributed packets consisted in order of a cover sheet (explaining the study) on which subjects recorded demographic information. The experimenter informed subjects that they were helping to evaluate salary ranges for professionals. The cover sheet was followed by a human resource profile that contained a graphical depiction of an employee's last two years quarterly performance ratings. In all cases, the average performance rating over a two-year period was 10 on a 12-point scale. To ensure face validity, two human resource managers evaluated the profile a priori to assess accuracy of the salary ranges and raise amounts used in subsequent questions. The candidate's picture, name, and a company logo appeared at the top of the profile; in each case the job type was either a chemical engineer or a human resource mid-level officer. A section labeled "Additional Information" below the performance graph contained the employee's grade point average (GPA), education, and earned vacation time. All fictitious employees had a GPA of 3.4 and six years company tenure. The remaining pages consisted of Likert type perceptual variables on which respondents rated the employee.