Broadening our sights: Expanding the consequences of allyship for allies

Abstract

Scholars are increasingly recognizing that allyship affects allies themselves. Although existing scholarship covers a multitude of constructs, most of the literature focuses on social evaluations and their effects on allyship persistence. We posit that the dual focus on social evaluations and allyship persistence has limited the theoretical insights and applied relevance of scholarship on the consequences of allyship for allies. Our review highlights emerging and understudied proximal and distal consequences and possible connections among them to guide future research efforts. We urge scholars to elucidate the distal consequences of social evaluations of allies, further explore understudied proximal and distal consequences, and offer theory as to the nuanced relationships between proximal and distal consequences of allyship for allies.