Article: Thursday, 27 November 2025
In organisations, not all minorities experience inequality in the same way. The conventional wisdom says similarities between groups are a positive, but this has been challenged by Dr Jan Lodge of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). His research explored why some minority groups face greater career barriers than others within the same organisation, and found that in some cases people from minority groups who appear closer to the majority – for example by sharing similar backgrounds or values – can find their career progression is penalised more than people from groups who seem more distant. The research, conducted with Dr Aulia Syakhroza of Bayes Business School City St George’s at the University of London, has been published in the Journal of Management Studies, and is titled Birds of a feather are punished together, or not? Examining heterogeneity in career advancements of minority groups.
Jan Lodge says the motivation to research this came from the simple observation that not all minorities in organisations experience inequality in the same way. So why do some groups face stronger barriers than others?
“Most research and corporate diversity initiatives treat minority groups as a single category, yet we noticed that discrimination and opportunity, particularly in the context of minority groups’ career trajectories, often vary even within minority populations. We wanted to understand the mechanisms behind this variation in minority groups’ career trajectories and provide evidence that managers can use to create fairer career systems,” said Jan Lodge.
The researchers studied a large organisation within the Indonesian government that employed more than 2,500 people of several religious backgrounds. They analysed detailed data from employment records that included promotions, performance scores and demographics to investigate if belonging to different religious minority group affected an employee’s chances of being promoted to management. They combined their analysis with examining how perceived similarity or distance between different groups of people shapes evaluations and promotions at work.
And they found that discrimination in organisations is not always about differences – sometimes those who are the most similar face the greatest resistance
The researchers found that employees from minority groups that are more similar to the governing majority group, or have more in common with them, were more disadvantaged in promotions than groups that appear to be more distant. They suggest it’s because the majority group gets a feeling of being threatened by groups they think are more similar, and this translates into slower career progression for the ‘closer’ minorities.
“We also found that within any minority group, the people who resemble the majority – for example through birthplace or cultural background – faced greater penalties than their peers who were more distinct,” said Dr Aulia Syakhroza. Specifically, in the organisation used in the research, the Christian employees in a majority Muslim contexts were more disadvantaged than Buddhists or Hindus in a majority Muslim context, even though Christianity and Islam share many commonalities.
For businesses, this means that they could be allowing biases in career progressions. Jan Lodge and Aulia Syakhroza have three points to recommend to business leaders:
Monitor promotion and evaluation data by subgroup rather than broad categories – this can reveal invisible inequities, they say.
Train evaluators – such as promotion committee members – to recognise the ‘similarity bias’, i.e., the feeling of being threatened by members of minority groups that are most similar to the evaluating majority.
The researchers say that designing fairer and more inclusive workplaces should be much more of a priority in businesses and organisations because there are indeed subtle mechanisms that disadvantage some minorities more than others. “More broadly, our work highlights that building fairer workplaces depends not only on recognising difference but also on managing the tensions that arise from perceived similarity,” says Jan Lodge.
Read the published research paper in the Journal of Management Studies: Birds of a Feather are Punished Together, or Not? Examining Heterogeneity in Career Advancements of Minority Group
Science Communication and Media Officer
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe’s top-ranked business schools. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam – a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who can become a force for positive change by carrying their innovative mindset into a sustainable future. Our first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes encourage them to become to become critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinkers and doers.
