Rachel Arnett, PhD
Assistant Professor, The Wharton School
​Rachel Arnett is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is in the Organizational Behavior subgroup of the Management Department and specializes in identity and inclusion. She is a Claude Marion Endowed Faculty Scholar and, in 2022, was named one of the Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors by Poets & Quants.
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Rachel’s research investigates pathways to developing relationships across differences and creating workplaces where people from all backgrounds can succeed. Her work integrates laboratory experiments, surveys, and qualitative data. She collaborates with organizations through field experiments, employee surveys, and in-depth interviews.
Rachel completed her doctoral training in Harvard University’s Organizational Behavior program.
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Research
Rachel’s research focuses on how to effectively navigate social identities, manage difficult conversations, and achieve career success.
Navigating
Social Identity
Rachel’s first area of research focuses on how employees cultivate relationships and inclusion through the ways they reveal or conceal aspects of their social identities in professional settings. Her research sheds light on the ways that employees from different backgrounds can leverage their social identities as a source of connection and advancement, as opposed to division and stigmatization.
Speaking Up &
Difficult Conversations
In her second research focus, Rachel examines the challenges people face when engaging in difficult conversations, such as discussing inclusion or negotiating. She sheds light on a path forward by examining the individual strategies that employees can adopt and the conditions organizations can create to enable the benefits of speaking up and engaging in these difficult conversations to outweigh the risks.
Achieving
Career Success
Rachel’s third area of research explores how social identities shape career paths, leadership attainment, and professional choices. She examines the challenges different social identity groups face in overcoming barriers to leadership and balancing professional goals with personal commitments, using diverse methods to deepen insights into these dynamics.
Publications
"Uniting through difference: Rich cultural-identity expression as a conduit to inclusion."
Organization Science
"Not Such a Complainer Anymore:
Bias Confrontation that Signals a Growth Mindset Can Undercut Backlash."
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
"Sacrificing status for social harmony: Concealing relatively high status identities from one’s peers."
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes