Silent Struggles: Asian Employees Experience More Exploitation at Work

Abstract: This research examines how East Asian employees experience heightened workplace exploitation compared to other racial groups, driven by stereotypes of submissiveness. Through three studies, we demonstrate that Asian employees face greater exploitation and investigate the underlying mechanisms. Study 1, a two-wave survey (N=512), shows Asian employees report higher levels of exploitation than White and Black employees, leading to increased burnout. Study 2 (N=298) reveals that traits associated with exploitable employees significantly overlap with stereotypically Asian characteristics. Study 3, an experiment (N=397), demonstrates that Asian employees are more likely to be assigned unpaid overtime work, mediated by perceptions of both submissiveness and competence. This research advances our understanding of how racial stereotypes enable workplace inequities and suggests practical implications for organizations to prevent stereotype-based exploitation.

Keywords: race, Asian, exploitation, workplace