A double whammy effect of ethnicity and gender on consumer responses to management level service failures
Author:
Wu Laurie,Han Rachel,Mattila Anna S
Abstract
Purpose
– Existing research on demographic stereotypes of employees suggests that ethnicity and gender are important determinants of consumer perceptions and behaviors. Based on the Stereotype Content Model and the Role Congruity Theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of ethnicity and gender stereotypes on management-level service failures in a US context.
Design/methodology/approach
– Adopting a 2 (ethnicity: Caucasian vs Hispanic) × 2 (gender: male vs female) between-subjects design, two studies were conducted with US consumers to test whether a double whammy effect of ethnicity and gender exists for management-level, but not line-level, service failures.
Findings
– The results of this study suggest that Hispanic female managers suffer from a double whammy effect due to ethnic and gender-based stereotyping in the USA. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the serial mediation via competence perceptions and blame attributions are the underlying psychological mechanism of this effect. As predicted, occupational status functions as a boundary factor to the double whammy effect.
Originality/value
– The findings of this paper contribute to the service management literature by examining the role of demographic characteristics in influencing US consumers’ responses to management-level service failures.
Subject
Strategy and Management,Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management,Business, Management and Accounting (miscellaneous)
Reference112 articles.
1. Andrevski, G.
,
Richard, O.C.
,
Ferrier, W.J.
and
Shaw, J.D.
(2010), “Managerial racial diversity, competitive aggressiveness and firm performance: a moderated mediation model”,
Academy of Management Proceedings
, Vol. 2010 No. 1, pp. 1-6. 2. Ashmore, R.D.
,
DelBoca, F.K.
and
Wohlers, A.J.
(1986), “Gender stereotypes”, in
Ashmore, R.D.
and
Del Boca, F.K.
(Eds),
The Social Psychology of Female-Male Relations: A Critical Analysis of Central Concepts
, Academic Press, Orlando, FL, pp. 69-119. 3. Avery, D.R.
,
McKay, P.F.
,
Volpone, S.D.
and
Malka, A.
(2015), “Are companies beholden to bias? The impact of leader race on consumer purchasing behavior”,
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
, Vol. 127 No. 3, pp. 85-102. 4. Banaji, M.R.
and
Greenwald, A.G.
(1995), “Implicit gender stereotyping in judgments of fame”,
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, Vol. 68 No. 2, pp. 181-198. 5. Barone, M.
,
Tharp, M.
,
Brenna, S.
and
Powell, D.
(2001), “The many faces of America”,
US News and World Report
, Vol. 130 No. 11, pp. 18-20.
Cited by
16 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
|
|