The Effect of Community Support for Far-Right Political Parties on Immigrant Employee’s Absenteeism

Both international migration and political polarization have seen widespread increases over the last decade. As immigration increases, community support for far-right political parties (and their xenophobic platforms) grows, begging the question of how a community’s support for far-right political parties affects immigrant workers who serve these communities. Integrating macro-level research from economics and political science with stereotype threat theory at the individual-level, we argue that far-right political support in the community makes negative immigrant-related stereotypes salient, affecting immigrant workers’ short-term absenteeism behavior. However, we predict that similarity to their team leader or coworkers (in terms of immigrant status) is associated with decreased short-term absenteeism because it lowers immigrant workers’ perceptions of stereotype threat. Using both field and experimental designs, we demonstrate the interplay between subordinate’s immigrant status, their similarity to fellow team members, and the political context in which they work.