The hidden cost of courage: How oppositional courage shapes trans employees’ diminished image belief.

Fulfilling the promise of greater workplace inclusion increasingly hinges on advantaged group employees’ oppositional courage (OC)—a nonnormative form of allyship involving significant risk to the actor. Research suggests OC may not only offer instrumental benefits to marginalized employees but also convey a powerful “message of value” from the actor. Yet these courageous acts do not occur in a vacuum, suggesting they may carry social consequences for marginalized employees. Drawing from theory on helping relations and research on social cognition, we argue these risky acts can inadvertently signal unique strength in the actor, triggering marginalized employees’ diminished image belief—a concern others see them as weak and unable to stand up for themselves. We further propose that this perceived “image cost” depends on the actor's humility as it relates to OC—what we term OC-specific humility—and that these dynamics have implications for marginalized employees’ avoidance reactions. Our investigation utilized data from 959 trans employees. In Study 1, a qualitative analysis identified three behavioral themes reflecting humility in relation to OC (i.e., OC-specific humility) and provided initial support for its role in shaping how OC is perceived. In Study 2, we tested our hypotheses experimentally. In Study 3, we sought to replicate the results with a time-lagged survey. Three supplemental studies included a scale development effort aimed at validating a measure of OC-specific humility and two additional experiments. Overall, results provided partial support for our model. We conclude by discussing the implications of our research, as well as avenues for future work.