Abstract
Authenticity has been promoted for millennia; the modern workplace is no exception. Organizations, too, may espouse an authenticity ideology—encouraging employees to “be themselves” to achieve success. The espousal of such an ideology might be intended to signal identity safety, particularly to stigmatized job seekers. Instead, however, we propose that an espoused authenticity ideology may ironically frustrate and repel those who experience the most stigma. Across six experiments, we find that stigma in professional settings increases the tendency to view adhering to an espoused authenticity ideology—that is, engaging in authentic behavior—as risky, which prompts frustration and undermines attraction toward organizations that promote such an ideology. Further evincing our theoretical model, organizations that provide an evidence-based identity-safety cue can promote an authenticity ideology without triggering backlash from job seekers higher in stigma. This work contributes to the literature on authenticity and identity safety and offers practical implications for organizational messaging, particularly communications aimed at recruiting underrepresented or stigmatized employees.