Stereotypical Perception in Management: A Review and Expansion of Role Congruity Theory

Abstract

Role congruity theory proposes that bias may arise from the perceived incongruity between stereotypes about a social group and expected requirements for success in a social role. Since its introduction, with a focus on gender roles and the development of prejudice against female leaders, management scholars have applied role congruity theory to understand the emergence and consequences of prejudice in a wide range of organizational settings. We provide a review of management research that has incorporated role congruity theory. In this review, we first identify the key constructs and predictions that underlie the theory. Then, we summarize the adoption of the theory in the management literature based on the effects of role incongruity on target evaluation, outcome, and adaptation. Lastly, we suggest potential areas for future development of the theory, including the expansion of the theory to include social roles beyond gender, the examination of multilevel and multidimensional role incongruity effects, and other relevant emerging topics. We hope that this review will promote the accessibility of role congruity theory to management researchers and stimulate the development and application of the theory in the field of management.

Hidden treasures or red flags? A recruiter's view of (not) hiring former entrepreneurs into corporate jobs

“…The shared experience can give a recruiter more confidence in hiring, as similarity strengthens self‐enhancing cognitions that further enable them to believe that people with these characteristics can demonstrate superior qualities (Morry, 2007). This is consistent with recent suggestions in the RCT literature that shared experience can mitigate evaluators’ perceptions of role incongruity and produce more positive outcomes (Triana et al., 2023). We therefore hypothesize the following: Hypothesis 4 :The negative relationship between entrepreneurial experience and recruiters’ hiring decisions is moderated by recruiters’ entrepreneurial experience, such that the entrepreneurship‐penalty effect will be weaker for recruiters with entrepreneurial experience. …”

“…In this regard, answering the call from Triana et al. (2023), our research also contributes to the emerging discussions about the need to expand the context of RCT research. We extend the focus from the gender role, which has been predominantly studied in the role congruity research, to a more context‐specific role (i.e., former entrepreneurs).…”

“…Recent role congruity research has further expanded beyond the study of gender roles (Um et al., 2022) and suggested that perceived role incongruity may depend on how different evaluators, such as recruiters, interpret the presence or absence of the qualities needed to perform a specific functional role (i.e., the qualities or signals in the screening process) (Triana et al., 2023). As such, we argue that recruiters’ characteristics and backgrounds can play a crucial role in the hiring process, as recruiters may interpret the strengths, weaknesses, and red flags of applicants differently from one another and in ways that the applicants may not have intended to reveal (Highhouse et al., 2007; Perkins & Hendry, 2005).…”

“…Recent studies in the RCT literature have acknowledged the influence of evaluators’ own characteristics on stereotype biases (Hoyt & Burnette, 2013; Triana et al., 2023; Wang et al., 2019). For instance, Hoyt & Burnette (2013) found that the pro‐male gender bias in leader evaluation was more pronounced when evaluators held stronger entity‐oriented personal beliefs.…”

The Impact of the Need for Cognitive Closure on Attitudes toward Women as Managers and the Sequential Mediating Role of Belief in a Just World and Gender Essentialism

“…According to a recent review [ 7 ], the issues women face in senior leadership roles, including compensation, promotability, and termination, have been explained by researchers in terms of role congruity theory [ 8 ]. Although this theory generally states that negative evaluations are a potential outcome of incongruity between the expectations of different roles held by the same person, it has been commonly applied to the case of women managers and leaders, who can be perceived as “too feminine” (and consequently insufficiently managerial) or “too managerial” (and consequently insufficiently feminine).…”