Bich Nguyen"New evidence suggests a hidden force quietly distorting this process: accent bias. Across a plethora of digital platforms, we found that speakers with nonnative English accents consistently receive less engagement. These findings support previous research that suggests the same bias can affect in-person judgments of credibility and competence, including in organizational contexts like hiring and evaluation."
https://hbr.org/2026/03/research-how-the-accent-penalty-determines-who-gets-heard
Research: How the “Accent Penalty” Determines Who Gets Heard
At American firms, accent bias can quietly shape whose ideas gain traction at work by depressing attention and engagement for speakers with nonnative English accents. Drawing on an analysis of 5,000+ English-language TED Talks, research finds a consistent “accent penalty” in views and likes that persists even after accounting for topic, speaker expertise, visibility, and other indicators of content quality. A follow-up experiment with 1,300+ U.S. adults helps explain why, showing that accented speech increases cognitive effort and reduces perceived warmth and trust, which in turn lowers interest and willingness to share. Because attention functions as a form of organizational currency, these dynamics can distort recognition, influence, and learning in global teams. Leaders can mitigate the effect by redesigning meetings and evaluations and by raising awareness of processing fluency–driven bias.