Does the Race of an Agency Director Affect How Their Performance Is Perceived?

Abstract

The goal of the study was to determine if Black, White, and Hispanic respondents differed in how they rated Black and White individuals in government leadership positions. In so doing, an online experiment was conducted using racially specific names as a proxy for the leader’s race. The findings revealed that White respondents did not rate the performance of an agency director who was Black any differently than they did the performance of an agency director who was White. Similarly, disparities were not found in how Black respondents rated the performance of a Black or White agency director of a government agency. However, Black respondents were more likely to report that the mayor should keep a high performing Black director than a White director. No such disparities were found in the reporting of White respondents. White and Black respondents did rate the performance of the White director differently in some performance cues. Finally, Hispanic respondents were not found to rate the performance of the Black and White director in the middle of the ratings given by Black and White respondents. These findings do suggest that Black and White individuals can look past color and judge a leader by their performance.