Black employees struggle to thrive under managers perceived as Trump supporters

A recent study reveals that Black employees feel less able to excel and succeed in their jobs when they believe their managers support former United States President Donald Trump. This outcome occurs because these employees perceive Trump-supporting managers as less inclusive, which creates a workplace environment that restricts their professional growth. The research was published in the Human Resource Management Journal.

Workplace dynamics are frequently shaped by broader societal politics and national discourse. In recent years, management scholars have started investigating the specific ways that right-wing political movements impact corporate diversity and inclusion efforts.

A primary focus of this research area is the influence of Donald Trump on everyday workplace interactions. Support for the former president is often associated with opposition to diversity initiatives and a dismissal of racial equity concerns.

Because of these associations, researchers wanted to understand how marginalized groups interpret political signals from their supervisors. Specifically, the research team aimed to explore how a manager’s political leanings might alter a Black employee’s day-to-day experience and overall career trajectory.

The investigation was led by Darryl B. Rice, a researcher at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Rice collaborated with Nicole C. J. Young from Franklin & Marshall College, Regina M. Taylor from Creighton University, and Stephanie R. Leonard from Howard University.

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The team based their investigation on a concept called social information processing theory. This theory suggests that people observe the attitudes and behaviors of those around them to figure out how they should act and what they should expect in a given environment.

In a business setting, a manager provides powerful social cues that tell employees whether they are valued and supported. The researchers suspected that a manager’s political affiliation sends a strong signal to Black employees about their supervisor’s leadership style.

For a Black employee, a manager’s support for Donald Trump may be interpreted as a proxy for anti-Black prejudice. This political stance often conveys a message that the employee’s struggle for fair treatment is not understood or acknowledged by the supervisor.

As the workforce becomes more diverse, companies are increasingly trying to understand what factors help different groups of people succeed. Previous research has explored how women and employees with invisible disabilities experience workplace barriers, but fewer quantitative studies have centered entirely on the experiences of Black employees.

The team specifically looked at a leadership trait known as inclusive leadership. An inclusive leader is someone who actively supports diverse staff members, treats people fairly, provides helpful advice, and makes everyone feel like they belong.

Inclusive leadership is often viewed as a form of workplace allyship. When a manager lacks these inclusive traits, it can negatively impact an employee’s ability to thrive at work.

Thriving at work refers to a psychological state where an individual feels energized, engaged, and capable of growing professionally. The researchers wanted to see exactly how these factors link together in real business environments.

To test their ideas, the research team conducted three separate but related investigations. The first investigation was a survey of 351 Black working professionals from a wide variety of industries and educational backgrounds.

The researchers recruited these participants through various Black professional organizations, church groups, and alumni networks. The sample included both full-time and part-time workers.

Participants answered questions about their direct supervisors, including whether they believed their manager supported Donald Trump. The employees also rated their managers on inclusive leadership qualities and reported their own feelings of vitality and learning on the job.

To ensure their results were accurate, the researchers accounted for other factors that might influence workplace happiness. They tracked the employees’ age, gender, total time with the company, and the length of time they had worked under their current supervisor.

The survey results showed a clear pattern among the respondents. Black professionals rated managers who were perceived as Trump supporters much lower on inclusive leadership compared to managers who opposed the former president.

This lack of inclusive leadership had a direct negative effect on the employees. Because they felt excluded and unsupported, these workers reported lower levels of energy and professional growth in their jobs.

Age also played a major role in how employees reacted to these leadership cues. The negative impact on thriving at work was much stronger for younger Black employees than for older ones.

The authors suggest that younger workers often have less experience and rely more heavily on their managers for guidance and support. Older workers usually have established careers and draw on their past experiences, making them slightly less dependent on a specific manager’s leadership style.

While the first survey established a relationship between these factors, the researchers wanted to isolate the specific causes and effects. They designed two experimental scenarios, known as vignettes, to see how people react to controlled descriptions of managers.

In the first experiment, 31 Black participants read a profile of either a Trump-supporting manager or a Trump-opposing manager. The profiles contained identical information about the manager’s basic competence, but differed in their political and social behaviors.

The researchers made sure that these written profiles were as realistic as possible to avoid tipping off the participants about the true purpose of the experiment. This design choice helps prevent participants from simply guessing the right answer and artificially changing their responses.

After reading the profiles, the participants evaluated the manager’s ability to lead inclusively. As expected, the participants rated the hypothetical Trump-supporting manager much lower on inclusive leadership.

The final experiment involved 47 different Black participants who read profiles of managers demonstrating either high or low inclusive leadership. This step was designed to confirm that inclusive leadership directly controls an employee’s ability to thrive.

Participants read the scenarios and then rated how well they thought they would perform under that specific supervisor. The respondents indicated that they would be far less likely to thrive and excel under the manager who lacked inclusive leadership skills.

By connecting these three studies, the researchers demonstrated a clear chain of events. A manager’s perceived political support for Donald Trump signals a lack of inclusivity, which directly restricts a Black employee’s ability to succeed and feel energized at work.

The authors noted that corporate human resources departments should be mindful of these dynamics. As the researchers point out, Black employees “routinely navigate systems that are largely inconsiderate of their unique challenges and contributions.”

The authors acknowledged a few limitations in their study design. The initial survey relied on self-reported data collected at a single point in time.

When participants provide all the information about themselves and their managers at once, it can sometimes introduce bias into the results. However, combining this survey with the controlled experiments helped reduce those concerns.

The use of written scenarios in the subsequent experiments also presents a minor limitation. While written scenarios offer excellent control over variables, they do not perfectly replicate the nuance of real-world human interactions.

Looking ahead, the research team recommended that future studies explore how these political dynamics affect other marginalized groups. They suggested investigating whether women, religious minorities, or employees with physical disabilities experience similar barriers to thriving under Trump-supporting managers.

Future research might also examine the actual political views of the managers rather than just the employees’ perceptions. Testing whether the manager’s own race alters the employee’s reaction could provide additional insights into these workplace challenges.

The study, “Politics and race in the workplace: Understanding how and when trump‐supporting managers hinder black employees from thriving at work,” was authored by Darryl B. Rice, Nicole C. J. Young, Regina M. Taylor, and Stephanie R. Leonard.