In tough times, we often want to surround ourselves with the familiar—but that same impulse can sometimes extend negatively into the workplace, suggests new research by Anyi Ma featured in Harvard Business Review (HBR).
The study by Ma, an assistant professor of management and human resources at the Wisconsin School of Business, and her co-authors looked at the notion of personal control: how much sway we have (or think we have) over ourselves and outside events. For example, we may feel a reduced sense of personal control on an individual level if we’re worried about our child’s daycare or our daily commute, but we can also feel a loss of personal control over global issues occurring far from us, such as civil unrest or extreme weather. The study used data from employees in 60 countries collected in 11 other studies.
“Across these studies, we consistently found that when employees experience a lack of personal control, they are more likely to gravitate toward those who resemble them—whether in race, religion, socioeconomic class, or personality characteristics,” Ma states.
One of the studies revealed that individuals who self-reported diminished personal control were also more inclined to disclose that they did not want neighbors who differed from them by race, religion, or language.
“This finding is especially important when considering classic economics studies that show how even mild preferences for similar others can lead to highly segregated societies over time,” writes Ma.
The article offers readers five critical ways leaders can take action to help reduce such “similarity bias.”
Ma’s research avenues include examining aspects of gender, leadership, and the workplace, such as how a growth mindset can positively impact the minimum wage and the benefits and drawbacks of being a take-charge person, or “agentic,” at work. Prior to joining WSB, Ma served as an assistant professor of management at Tulane University.
Read the full story in HBR to discover why forming diverse teams is more difficult in uncertain times.