Prejudices Against Managers

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Johannes Habel; Professor Dr. Christian Schmitz; Professor Dr. Jan Wieseke
• Subject Area: Accounting and Finance ; Empirical Social Research ; Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology ; Economic Policy, Applied Economics
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 287266048

Trust between market stakeholders is a crucial prerequisite to ensure the stability of the German social market economy. However, in recent years, one particular type of trust seems to have radically deteriorated: The trust of employees and the general public toward the managers of organizations. This downward trend is evidenced by a steady increase in prejudices against managers, i.e., overgeneralizations of negative characteristics and behaviors (such as greed, opportunism, or irresponsibility). As a result, it is expected that social unrest will significantly rise in the upcoming years. Furthermore, preliminary work shows that prejudices of employees against managers significantly harm the market success of a company. Strikingly, academic research has largely neglected prejudices against managers. We consider this to be a crucial oversight given the potential disastrous effects of prejudices both on the German economy and on individual organizations. Therefore, with the proposed research project we intend to address this research gap and examine in detail the prevalence, predictors, and outcomes of prejudices against managers. Furthermore, we intend to conceptualize and empirically test mitigation measures to alleviate such prejudices. To achieve these goals, the research project will examine prejudices against managers both within society and within organizations using a rigorous, multi-method approach (focus group interviews, surveys, experiments, observations). The project will run over three years and be carried out by ourselves and two doctoral students. We expect the project to make essential contributions both to science and to society including managerial practice. For science, the project will close an important gap, providing comprehensive knowledge on prejudices against managers from a societal and organizational point of view. For society and managerial practice, the project will uncover how to alleviate potentially disastrous consequences of prejudices against managers, restoring trust between the market stakeholders.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants