Emulation vs. Envy: Jewish Managerial Stereotypes in China

Does Jewish commercial success create envy among non-Jews, thus triggering antisemitism? Prior work, drawing on the stereotype content model, has pointed to the stereotyping of Jews as competent but cold as a factor that contributes to envy toward Jews. This article presents three studies conducted in China, using qualitative and quantitative methods, to explore how inferences about Jewish commercial success depend on the cultural context. Study 1 analyzed Chinese discourse and found that Jewish managers are stereotyped as competent and warm; their specific features (e.g., deviating from the norm) provided a source of aspiration. In Study 2, a questionnaire in China corroborated our findings. In Study 3, in an investment scenario experiment in China, we found that Chinese people perceived Jewish and Chinese managers who follow the Jewish stereotypes found in Studies 1 and 2 as competent and ethical and attributed the competence and ethicality among Chinese managers who follow the stereotypes to their perceived Jewishness. However, nationalism suppressed the positive influence of Jewishness on the perceived competence and ethicality of Chinese managers. Our findings suggest that societies low in cultural interdependence, low in essentialism of social categories, and high in holistic thinking have less envy toward Jews. These findings offer insights into how culture shapes the stereotyping of Jews and suggest mechanisms to reduce envy and prejudice toward Jews.