full title:  “Speaking from Experience: An exploration of the impact of stereotype threat on outcomes for non-native speakers”.

Abstract:

Recent research in diversity has shown that non-native accent can represent an important source of stigma for foreign employees working in a country different from their birth one. For instance, prior research has found that non-native speakers are penalized innumerous organizational practices, including recruitment and selection, performance evaluation and career. A recent study has demonstrated that these discrimination practices are driven by a perception of low competences of non-native speakers, enhanced by the objective problems in communication associated with the condition of speaking with a non-native accent. In this paper, I present the result of two-studies, one conducted in US with non-native speaking students, and a second one conducted in Europe with non-native speakers working in France and Italy. The goal is to examine what are the consequences on own emotions and behaviors when non-native speakers are aware of the negative stereotype associated with their condition (i.e. stereotype threat). Our main focus is on impression management strategies as we found that employees can vary their behaviors at work, i.e. assuming assertive vs. defensive impression management strategies, according to the degree of stigma consciousness and two boundary conditions: i.e. the perception of malleability of own accent and the positive attitudes towards the own accent. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.