Culture and the Development of Occupational Stereotypes
Within organizations, many stereotypes exist about particular occupations. For example,
studies have shown that individuals hold strong popular stereotypes about how accountants (Cory,
1992) and engineers (Leonardi, Jackson, & Diwan, 2009) work. Occupational stereotypes are
often activated in situations where people from multiple occupations come together to work on a
shared task, such as architects, engineers, and contractors on construction sites (Loosemore & Tan,
2000). But within a given occupation, occupational stereotypes can be activated when group
members come from different national cultures. Yurtseven (2002), for example, discusses how the
“engineer” is stereotyped differently across various national cultures and how such stereotypes
cause problems for foreign engineers who wish to pursue advanced degrees or work in the U.S. He
suggests that the stereotype of the “U.S. engineer” as someone who likes to tinker, works alone,
and is a know-it-all inventor (p. 17) does not match up with the identity of engineers in many other
countries, and it often discourages foreign-born individuals from wanting to work as engineers in
the U.S.