In business as in life, political ideology matters whether we like it or not. Research indicates that the political beliefs of executive teams influence factors such as the distribution of resources across business units, level of risk tolerance, and how much importance is placed on corporate social responsibility. Ideology can also influence attitudes to pay disparity and corporate misconduct.
Managers may also be inclined to recruit employees who share their political ideologies. But there are signs that this mindset could be bad for business. For example, research into Brazilian business found that one standard deviation in partisan recruitment reduced annual revenue growth by 1%.
A lack of diversity creates an echo chamber within management teams, resulting in less constructive challenging of strategy. As a result, it’s important for executives to understand how their political ideology and that of their employees might evolve through work experiences.
That’s not to mention the potential for business leaders to play a role in addressing ever increasing political polarization. With social media algorithms creating echo chambers that reinforce rather than challenge preexisting views, the workplace has become one of the only settings where we interact with dissimilar individuals.
Executives alarmed at growing societal divisions that want to contribute to improving the fabric of society therefore have an added incentive to boost employee collaboration.
Rather than political ideology being formed and fixed before people enter the workforce, our research suggests that experiences at work also mold our political ideology. After all, most adult human interaction takes place at work, and our personal identity is intertwined with our professional life.
When people who wouldn’t naturally interact outside of the workplace are encouraged to collaborate towards a common goal, they are exposed to a broader variety of perspectives and contributions.
Such exposure could allow unhelpful preconceptions about nationality, gender or other distinctions to dissipate through the collaborative process. Employees would become more inclusive, less conservative and, ultimately, more liberal. Equality would become more important and hierarchy less so.
To test this hypothesis, we needed to identify a case study that involved close collaboration and an absence of outside influence. We decided that an analysis of all 217 NASA space missions that took place between 1961 and 2019 would offer an ideal evaluation of how collaboration shapes political ideology.
Consider the Cold War, during which Soviets and Americans, with all their ideological differences, needed to work together in a confined space isolated from any other interaction.
The results were intriguing. Replacing one astronaut in an all-US team with an international astronaut increased by 16% the likelihood of each team member donating to a liberal political candidate after the mission. This effect was stronger among black and women astronauts. Workplace collaboration with individuals that are dissimilar to ourselves can lead to a more inclusive and liberal perspective.
Certain popular LLMs are even underpinned by a conservative ideology that undermines the liberalizing effect of collaboration.
Increasing use of AI in the workplace could inadvertently “shield” employees from views and perspectives that challenge their own. Today’s large language models (LLMs) are inclined to please the user, rather than challenge them constructively. This only serves to affirm employees’ existing views and ideologies.
Certain popular LLMs are even underpinned by a conservative ideology that undermines the liberalizing effect of collaboration. Ideology-neutral LLMs or even models designed to interrogate and challenge the views of the user could offer a way of using AI to replicate the positive impact of collaborating with dissimilar individuals. At this point in time, however, human collaboration is the most accessible and immediately beneficial option.
Your learning strategy – a key driver of growth
Most existing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives focus on compliance, representation and procedural fairness. While this framework should be in place, it is unlikely to change employees’ underlying belief systems and attitudes.
But when businesses form diverse and collaborative teams with shared goals, strengthened workplace relationships can open up the mindsets of individuals. Faced with a backlash against DEI programs, international corporations may find that collaboration offers managers a way of promoting DEI principles in a softer, more organic way that is also more deep-rooted and effective.
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