Growing Apart: Scalp Hair, Stigma, and the Cultural Default Signaling Hypothesis in Recruitment Settings

We examine how Black and non-Black women in recruitment settings may show diverging responses to organizational signals for members to assimilate via their choice of hairstyles. Consistent with theories of identity threat, we expect Black women to show lower organizational attractiveness amidst such signals due to stigmatization. For non-Black women, in contrast to research suggesting they should be deterred by norms that signal identity threat for Black women, we propose the cultural default signaling hypothesis and argue that some forms of stigmatization at work may be accepted by members of majoritized groups. Thus, non-Black women may be undeterred by prospective employers with appearance norms relating to hairstyles, despite the possible stigmatization they anticipate because of these expectations. We test these competing predictions in our investigation (N = 4,534) and find considerable support for the cultural default signaling hypothesis. Our research contributes to work on identity threat and organizational attraction by demonstrating how majority groups can treat some signals of stigmatization during recruitment as inconsequential concerning the appeal of prospective employers.