Across three separate studies, we find that racially dissimilar individuals are likely to create facades of conformity due to feeling psychologically unsafe. We also find that a leader’s visionary leadership behavior can heighten the negative relationship between racial dissimilarity and psychological safety. Findings show that when organizational members perceive their leader as having more vision, the tendency to suppress personal values and pretend to embrace organizational values in response to low psychological safety is heightened. We contribute to existing scholarship within multiple streams of literature and theoretical perspectives.
