Employees generally expect to perform tasks that align with their professional roles and responsibilities. However, they are sometimes required to carry out duties that violate what can reasonably be expected of them. These duties, known as illegitimate tasks (ILTs), refer to assignments that fall outside an employee’s formal role or contradict professional norms and standards (Semmer et al., 2019). Research on ILTs has predominantly focused on employees’ subjective experiences, emphasizing how leadership behaviours and organizational conditions influence whether tasks are perceived as illegitimate. While this perspective has generated valuable insights into the consequences of ILTs for well-being, motivation, and performance (Björk et al., 2013; Sias & Duncan, 2019; Stein et al., 2020), it leaves largely unexplored the supervisory decision-making processes that give rise to such assignments.
A key limitation in the current literature is the implicit assumption that illegitimate tasks are incidental outcomes of poor leadership or organizational dysfunction (Muntz et al., 2019). This view overlooks the possibility that supervisors may assign such tasks systematically, based not only on situational demands but also on social judgments, stereotypes, and organizational norms. Addressing this gap, the present study examines the cognitive and interpersonal factors that shape supervisory decisions in the assignment of ILTs.
Drawing on the Continuum Model of Impression Formation (Fisk & Neuberg, 1990) and the Stereotype Content Model (Fiske et al., 2002), this research investigates how supervisors form impressions of subordinates when allocating tasks. The study focuses on visible social cues, including age, gender, and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), and examines how these cues shape perceptions of warmth and competence. These stereotype-based impressions may influence which employees are considered more suitable or more compliant targets for illegitimate task assignments.
The aim of this study is to shift the focus of ILT research from employee reactions to the upstream processes of managerial judgment. The presentation will outline the theoretical framework, research design, and expected contributions of the study. Its goal is to provide new insights into how stereotype-driven perceptions may shape task assignment decisions and to inform more equitable and transparent practices in organizations.