The Insightful Leader
Sent to subscribers on September 7, 2022
A few weeks ago, I covered a study that shows how opting to not give an opinion on hot-button topics can backfire. People of all political stripes are suspect of those who try to avoid thorny topics, the research found. In fact, people are less trusting of those who try to stay out of the fray than they are of people whose opinions run counter to their own.
Today, I’ve got some new research that complicates the picture for those who suspect they may disagree politically with someone who holds a lot of sway over their career prospects: their boss.
In this new study, Edoardo Teso, an assistant professor of managerial economics and decision sciences, shows that workers are more likely to be hired, be promoted, and be paid more when they belong to the same political party as their boss.
We’ll look more at this finding today.
But First, Please Take Our Reader Survey!
I’ve got a favor to ask. If you haven’t already, please take our reader survey. We’re eager to learn what you do and don’t like about what we publish in Kellogg Insight. If you have thoughts on The Insightful Leader newsletter in particular, I’d love to hear them. You can add those to the question that asks what else you’d like to share with us.
You can get to the survey here. Thank you!
The Advantage of Belonging to the Same Party as Your Boss
Teso and colleagues conducted their research in Brazil, which, like the U.S., is a highly partisan place. (Though unlike the U.S., Brazil has more than 30 major political parties.)
The researchers compiled a massive dataset from government records that included the political affiliations of 12 million private-company employers and employees, along with data on demographics, location, industry, and occupation for each individual. The sample represented 11.4 percent of owners in the private sector and 7.8 percent of workers.
The analysis showed that workers and employers were 50 percent more likely to belong to the same party than if they had just been randomly matched together. Co-partisan workers were both more likely to be hired and less likely to leave the firm after being hired than other workers. And politically aligned employees were more likely to be promoted and earn as much as 3.8 percent more compared with nonaligned coworkers at the same level.
“I was expecting to see an effect,” Teso says. “What is striking is the magnitude of the relationship.”
The researchers next looked at how these political preferences played out in real-life scenarios. They had a group of business owners rate the resumes of made-up job seekers with realistic qualifications. Owners rated resumes significantly higher when they contained clues that the job seeker belonged to the same party as they did as compared with those of opposing parties.
Then the team asked workers and owners what they thought accounted for these skewed resume ratings. Both groups said they thought the partisan hiring pattern is due mainly to discrimination—either because of employers’ preference for their own party members or because they believe their own party members will perform better on the job. And 29 percent of surveyed business owners outright admitted they take into account the political views of potential workers when making hiring decisions.
Again, this study was done in Brazil, so it’s not clear if the pattern would hold in the U.S. But the findings suggest that there can be real costs to disagreeing with your boss.
When combined with the study we featured a few weeks ago about the costs of staying mum when hot-button topics arise, it can feel like there are few good options for employees who find themselves on the opposite side of the political divide from their boss.
LEADERSHIP TIP
“Nobody really wants to put a stake in the ground on what the unemployment rate is going to look like in the long run.”
—Professor Janice Eberly in Reuters, on the debate over what the impact will be of the Fed’s attempts to curb inflation.
A few weeks ago, I covered a study that shows how opting to not give an opinion on hot-button topics can backfire. People of all political stripes are suspect of those who try to avoid thorny topics, the research found. In fact, people are less trusting of those who try to stay out of the fray than they are of people whose opinions run counter to their own.
Today, I’ve got some new research that complicates the picture for those who suspect they may disagree politically with someone who holds a lot of sway over their career prospects: their boss.
In this new study, Edoardo Teso, an assistant professor of managerial economics and decision sciences, shows that workers are more likely to be hired, be promoted, and be paid more when they belong to the same political party as their boss.
We’ll look more at this finding today.
But First, Please Take Our Reader Survey!
I’ve got a favor to ask. If you haven’t already, please take our reader survey. We’re eager to learn what you do and don’t like about what we publish in Kellogg Insight. If you have thoughts on The Insightful Leader newsletter in particular, I’d love to hear them. You can add those to the question that asks what else you’d like to share with us.
You can get to the survey here. Thank you!
The Advantage of Belonging to the Same Party as Your Boss
Teso and colleagues conducted their research in Brazil, which, like the U.S., is a highly partisan place. (Though unlike the U.S., Brazil has more than 30 major political parties.)
The researchers compiled a massive dataset from government records that included the political affiliations of 12 million private-company employers and employees, along with data on demographics, location, industry, and occupation for each individual. The sample represented 11.4 percent of owners in the private sector and 7.8 percent of workers.
The analysis showed that workers and employers were 50 percent more likely to belong to the same party than if they had just been randomly matched together. Co-partisan workers were both more likely to be hired and less likely to leave the firm after being hired than other workers. And politically aligned employees were more likely to be promoted and earn as much as 3.8 percent more compared with nonaligned coworkers at the same level.
“I was expecting to see an effect,” Teso says. “What is striking is the magnitude of the relationship.”
The researchers next looked at how these political preferences played out in real-life scenarios. They had a group of business owners rate the resumes of made-up job seekers with realistic qualifications. Owners rated resumes significantly higher when they contained clues that the job seeker belonged to the same party as they did as compared with those of opposing parties.
Then the team asked workers and owners what they thought accounted for these skewed resume ratings. Both groups said they thought the partisan hiring pattern is due mainly to discrimination—either because of employers’ preference for their own party members or because they believe their own party members will perform better on the job. And 29 percent of surveyed business owners outright admitted they take into account the political views of potential workers when making hiring decisions.
Again, this study was done in Brazil, so it’s not clear if the pattern would hold in the U.S. But the findings suggest that there can be real costs to disagreeing with your boss.
When combined with the study we featured a few weeks ago about the costs of staying mum when hot-button topics arise, it can feel like there are few good options for employees who find themselves on the opposite side of the political divide from their boss.
LEADERSHIP TIP
“Nobody really wants to put a stake in the ground on what the unemployment rate is going to look like in the long run.”
—Professor Janice Eberly in Reuters, on the debate over what the impact will be of the Fed’s attempts to curb inflation.