Weight bias 2.0: the effect of perceived weight change on performance evaluation and the moderating role of anti-fat bias

Ji, Yueting, Huang, Qianyao, Liu, Haiyang ORCID: 0000-0002-6900-3491 and Phillips, Caleb (2021) Weight bias 2.0: the effect of perceived weight change on performance evaluation and the moderating role of anti-fat bias. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. ISSN 1664-1078

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Abstract

Overweight employees are viewed as lazy, slow, inactive, and even incapable. Even if such attributes are false, this perspective can seriously undermine others' evaluation of their work performance. The current study explores a broader phenomenon of weight bias that has an effect on weight change. In a longitudinal study with a time lag of 6 months, we surveyed 226 supervisor-employee dyads. We found supervisor perceptions of employee weight change notably altered their evaluation of the employee performance from Time 1, especially following low vs. high Time-1 performance evaluation. Meanwhile, the moderating effects among different levels of supervisor anti-fat bias functioned as boundary conditions for such performance evaluation alteration. In particular, the interaction between the Time-1 performance evaluation and the impact of supervisor perception of employee weight change on the Time-2 performance evaluation was significant only if supervisors held a stronger anti-fat bias.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Authors
Divisions:	Management
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Date Deposited:	12 Aug 2021 09:15
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 02:37
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/111589

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