Mitigating Accent Bias with Disclosure: How Disclosure Type and Agent Influence Nonnative Accent Evaluations and Decision Outcomes

Keywords: Nonnative accents, language diversity, bias reduction, workplace conflict

Abstract: In order to stay competitive in the increasingly global market, organizations in the U.S. are employing more foreign talent, or persons whose native language is not English. Despite the growing research that demonstrates bias, stigmatization, and discrimination against nonnative speakers, there remains a dearth of research on effective strategies and approaches to help nonnative speakers mitigate these challenges. In Study 1, we examine whether disclosing information about oneself (i.e., self-disclosure) would help nonnative speakers reduce native speakers’ negative perceptions (i.e., perceived competence and warmth) and evaluations of them (i.e., likelihood of funding the speaker’s start-up venture). In Study 2, we explore whether and how the agent disclosing the information (i.e., oneself versus another party) would differentially reduce native speakers’ negative perceptions and evaluations of nonnative speakers.