THE CATCH-22 OF COUNTERING A MORAL OCCUPATIONAL STIGMA IN EMPLOYEE-CUSTOMER INTERACTIONS

Past research has suggested that individuals in dirty work occupations can manage their self-views so as to derive positive self-definitions that allow them to perform their tasks with less of the burden of stigma. Results from our three studies show that this may not necessarily be the case when they try to manage how occupational outsiders view them. Findings from our studies show that in terms of this external perspective, rather than thwarting the occupational stigma, active stigma management by the stigma bearer can unintentionally reinforce the stigma. Drawing on the expectancy-confirmation framework from the stereotyping literature, we explain the cognitive mechanism that underlies this inadvertent stigma reinforcement in the stigma perceiver, and investigate the job performance implications for the stigma bearer. We test our hypotheses across two field studies and one experimental study, involving cross-industry and cross-sectional data, as well as one longitudinal data set including 128,549 employee-customer transactions. Our results contribute to research on dirty work by revealing that stigma management can be a double-edged sword with unintended negative consequences for the stigmatized worker.