Multiple Threat: Overweight/Obese Women in the Workplace

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Within the organizational stereotype threat literature, the majority of studies have focused on gender, race, age, and sexuality. One neglected area of increasing concern is that of overweight/obese individuals in the workplace. Recent statistics indicate that obesity is a serious epidemic in the United States with nearly 70% of the U.S. population diagnosable as overweight/obese (Flegal, Carroll, Ogden, & Curtin, 2010). In conjunction with this trend, the percentage of obese or overweight workers represented in the workplace is also increasing. Social psychological research on obesity stigmatization has shown that negative sentiment toward overweight/obese individuals is highly prevalent in society (Puhl & Heuer, 2009; Seacat, Dougal, & Roy, 2014) and that obesity-related prejudice remains one of the last acceptable forms of prejudice (e.g., Brochu & Esses, 2011; Puhl & Brownell, 2001). Obesity-related stigma is based upon numerous and potent social stereotypes of overweight people including laziness, unreliability, untrustworthiness, low motivation, low intelligence, and low dedication (Puhl & Brownell, 2006; Seacat & Mickelson, 2009). Particularly relevant is that all of these stereotypes are potentially applicable to individuals, evaluations, and consequences within the workplace, yet these stereotypes have received very little attention in the organizational literature. Although we agree with the arguments