“…Stigmatized entities are on the receiving end of negative stereotypes that convey characteristics, attributes, or behaviors that pose a threat to the vitality of individuals, groups, or society at large (Crocker & Major, 1989;Crocker et al, 1998;Stangor & Crandall, 2000). Stereotypes have been defined as often overgeneralized, rigid, and exaggerated beliefs about the characteristics, attributes, and behaviors of members of certain groups (Hilton & von Hippel, 1996;Krueger, Hall, Villano, & Jones, 2008). When an individual encounters a prototypical exemplar of a stigmatized category, such as a customer encountering a prototypical frontline worker of a stigmatized organization, negative stereotypes, which are attached to the stigmatized social category, become activated in the customers' mind and subsequently guide perception (Biernat & Dovidio, 2000;Stangor & Crandall, 2000).…”