They'll conform anyway: A motivation stereotype perspective on the exploitation of Asian employees

Perceptions of motivation play a critical role in shaping workplace treatment, yet little is known about how such perceptions are socially constructed. Drawing on social exchange theories and perspectives on interdependent versus independent self, we propose an ethnic-stereotype perspective of perceived motivation, suggesting that Asian employees are perceived as having higher controlled motivation-being driven by external pressures and expectations rather than personal volition-which leads supervisors to anticipate greater conformity from Asian employees and subsequently exploit them. Across one experiment (Study 1), one multiwave survey (Study 2), and one preregistered experiment with a behavioral measure (Study 3a), we consistently found that Asian employees were perceived as having higher controlled motivation compared to White and Black employees, leading to greater anticipated conformity and exploitation. A second preregistered experiment (Study 3b), in which we directly manipulated perceived controlled motivation, provided causal evidence that higher perceived controlled motivation increased exploitation through anticipated conformity, whereas lower perceived controlled motivation reversed this effect relative to a neutral baseline. We conclude by discussing theoretical implications for research on workplace mistreatment, Asian employees' work experiences, and motivation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).