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Pygmalion in the pipeline: How managers' perceptions influence racial differences in turnover
Author(s) -
Sabat Isaac E.,
Goldberg Caren,
King Eden B.,
Dawson Jeremy,
Zhang Lu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
human resource management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.888
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-050X
pISSN - 0090-4848
DOI - 10.1002/hrm.22044
Subject(s) - turnover , psychology , perception , social psychology , turnover intention , demographic economics , business , management , job satisfaction , economics , neuroscience
High rates of turnover among racial minority employees have largely been explained by the adage that dissimilarity breeds discontent. An unexplored, but potentially powerful driver of turnover, may emerge as a result of supervisors' and employees' own beliefs about minority employees' abilities. We rely on predictions from research on Pygmalion effects to examine how external, leader biases can elicit subsequent differences in employees' internal cognitions, which then impact turnover decisions. Utilizing a survey study of 228 employers and employees across four time points, we found support for the notion that leaders view racial minority new hires as having less efficacy than their White counterparts, and that these biases, when combined with less satisfactory supervision, lead minorities to have decreased self‐efficacy, subsequently causing them to perceive a less viable future in that company and voluntarily turn over.