Stereotype reactance of employees with disabilities: the role of perspective-taking and performance self-esteem

While previous studies have primarily focused on the negative effects of stereotype threat on performance, there has been limited attention given to its positive effects—stereotype reactance. This paper aims to address this gap by exploring stereotype reactance and its salience among employees with disabilities. Drawing on stereotype threat literature and the Mood Behavior Model (MBM), we build a three-way interaction model of stereotype threat, perspective-taking, and performance self-esteem on job performance. We collected a sample of 193 employees with disabilities from two manufacturing companies located in Henan and Hebei Province in China and conducted multilevel regression analyses to test our hypotheses. We find that stereotype threat—commonly perceived as a negative influence—actually correlates positively with job performance. This positive association is particularly evident among employees who demonstrate low perspective-taking abilities but have a high sense of performance self-esteem. The current findings shed light on stereotype reactance literature and provide suggestions for promoting inclusivity in the workplace.