Abstract

As companies increasingly value a diversified workforce by including more minority representatives in the workplace, it is imperative to understand customers’ responses to employee diversity. The present research explores how customer mindset (growth mindset vs. fixed mindset) shapes their responses to employee diversity operationalized in terms of gender, nationality, and race/ethnicity. Across six studies, including two studies conducted in field settings, we find that customers with a fixed mindset respond less favorably toward the minority (vs. majority) employee, while customers with a growth mindset do not show such bias toward the minority employee. We show that the negative effect of the fixed mindset toward the minority (vs. majority) employee is due to the naturalness bias in performance attribution, by which they emphasize talent rather than effort. Thus, by highlighting the natural talent of the minority employee, companies can attenuate the negative bias among fixed-mindset customers. Findings from this research contribute to a better understanding of customers’ responses to employee diversity, and also offer practical implications for marketers and policymakers. 

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