Emily C. Bianchi

The Bright Side of Bad Times The Affective Advantages of Entering the Workforce in a Recession

This paper examines whether earning a college or graduate degree in a recession or an economic boom has lasting effects on job satisfaction. Across three studies, well-educated graduates who entered the workforce during economic downturns were more satisfied with their current jobs than those who entered during more prosperous economic times. Study 1 showed that economic conditions at college graduation predicted later job satisfaction even after accounting for different industry and occupational choices. Study 2 replicated these results and found that recession-era graduates were more satisfied with their jobs both early and later in their careers and even when they earned less money. A third cross-sectional study showed that people who entered the workforce in bad economies were less likely to entertain upward counterfactuals, or thoughts about how they might have done better, and more likely to feel grateful for their jobs, both of which mediated the relationship between economic conditions at workforce entry and job satisfaction. While past research on job satisfaction has focused largely on situational and dispositional antecedents, these results suggest that early workforce conditions also can have lasting implications for how people affectively evaluate their jobs.

Social Class and Social Worlds Income Predicts the Frequency and Nature of Social Contact

Does access to money predict social behavior? Past work has shown that money fosters self-sufficiency and reduces interest in others. Building on this work, we tested whether income predicts the frequency and type of social interactions. Two studies using large, nationally representative samples of Americans (N = 118,026) and different measures of social contact showed that higher household income was associated with less time spent socializing with others (Studies 1 and 2) and more time spent alone (Study 2). Income also predicted the nature of social contact. People with higher incomes spent less time with their families and neighbors and spent more time with their friends. These findings suggest that income is associated with how and with whom people spend their time.

Do Good Times Breed Cheats? Prosperous Times Have Immediate and Lasting Implications for CEO Misconduct

We examine whether prosperous economic times have both immediate and lasting implications for corporate misconduct among chief executive officers (CEOs). Drawing on research suggesting that prosperous times are associated with excessive risk-taking, overconfidence, and more opportunities to cheat, we first propose that CEOs will be more likely to engage in corporate misconduct during good economic times. Next, we propose that CEOs who begin their careers in prosperous times will be more likely to engage in self-serving corporate misconduct later in their careers. We tested these hypotheses by assembling a large data set of American CEOs and following their stock option reporting patterns between 1996 and 2005. We found that in good economic times, CEOs were more likely to backdate their stock options grants. Moreover, CEOs who began their careers in prosperous times were more likely to backdate stock option grants later in their careers. These findings suggest that the state of the economy can influence c...

Trust in Decision-Making Authorities Dictates the Form of the Interactive Relationship Between Outcome Fairness and Procedural Fairness

Reactions to decisions are shaped by both outcome and procedural fairness. Moreover, outcome and procedural fairness interact to influence beliefs and behaviors. However, different types of “process/outcome” interaction effects have emerged. Many studies have shown that people react particularly negatively when they receive unfair or unfavorable outcomes accompanied by unfair procedures (the “low-low” interactive pattern). However, others find that people react especially positively when they receive fair or favorable outcomes accompanied by fair procedures (the “high-high” interactive pattern). We propose that trust in decision-making authorities dictates the form of the process/outcome interaction. Across three studies, when trust was high, the “low-low” interactive pattern emerged. When trust was low, the “high-high” interactive pattern emerged. The findings suggest that when people’s experience of outcome and procedural fairness diverged from how they expected to be treated, they reacted in the direction of their experiences; otherwise, their reactions were consistent with their expectations.

Reexamining the Link Between Economic Downturns and Racial Antipathy: Evidence That Prejudice Against Blacks Rises During Recessions:

Scholars have long argued that economic downturns intensify racial discord. However, empirical support for this relationship has been mixed, with most recent studies finding no evidence that downturns provoke greater racial animosity. Yet most past research has focused on hate crimes, a particularly violent and relatively infrequent manifestation of racial antipathy. In this article, we reexamine the relationship between economic downturns and racial acrimony using more subtle indicators of racial animosity. We found that during economic downturns, Whites felt less warmly about Blacks (Studies 1 and 2), held more negative explicit and implicit attitudes about Blacks, were more likely to condone the use of stereotypes, and were more willing to regard inequality between groups as natural and acceptable (Study 2). Moreover, during downturns, Black musicians (Study 3) and Black politicians (Study 4) were less likely to secure a musical hit or win a congressional election.