More Class in Management Research

Yanick Kemayou investigates how the socioeconomicbackground of organizational leaders can explain their management-relevantattitudes. The study provides theory development and first empirical tests of theimpact of leaders’ socioeconomic background on their risk propensity, sense of controland justice perceptions. The model integrates sociological and socialpsychological research on class dynamics and attitudes.Yanick Kemayou uses cross-sectional data from the German Socioeconomic Panel totest the model. The empirical analyses provide robust support for thetheoretical ideas. Results show, for instance, that reproduced leaders with alower social distance toward broader classes exhibit more favorable justiceperceptions toward groups such as unskilled workers than distant reproduced leaders.The bottom line for organizations is that leaders are likely to assesssituations and persons differently because of their own socioeconomicbackground.