Public Concern about Immigration and Customer Complaints against Minority Financial Advisors

In era of immigration fear, minority advisors face backlash

Law, K. K. F., and Zuo, L. (2022). Public concern about immigration and customer complaints against minority financial advisors. Management Science, 68(11), 8464-8482.

Key takeaways:

• Public attitudes toward immigration spillover to influence their perceptions of and satisfaction with their minority financial advisors, leading to more customer complaints against these advisors when immigration concerns are high.

• Heightened public concern about immigration appears to make investors more likely to both detect genuine misconduct and make unfounded allegations against their minority advisors.

• The tendency for immigration fears to color clients’ views of their advisors is most pronounced in parts of the country that are more opposed to immigration in the first place.

• When anti-immigration sentiment rises, minority advisors come under greater scrutiny from both clients and their employers, facing increased regulatory action and higher likelihood of leaving their firms.