diff --git a/awx/api/serializers.py b/awx/api/serializers.py
index c5e8559486..06e9866552 100644
--- a/awx/api/serializers.py
+++ b/awx/api/serializers.py
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ class BaseSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
                 roles[field.name] = {
                     'id': role.id,
                     'name': role.name,
-                    'description': role.description,
+                    'description': role.get_description(reference_content_object=obj),
                 }
         if len(roles) > 0:
             summary_fields['object_roles'] = roles
diff --git a/awx/main/models/rbac.py b/awx/main/models/rbac.py
index 5e040b85a1..3cb016ffde 100644
--- a/awx/main/models/rbac.py
+++ b/awx/main/models/rbac.py
@@ -164,17 +164,22 @@ class Role(models.Model):
         global role_names
         return role_names[self.role_field]
 
-    @property
-    def description(self):
+    def get_description(self, reference_content_object=None):
         global role_descriptions
         description = role_descriptions[self.role_field]
-        if '%s' in description and self.content_type:
-            model = self.content_type.model_class()
+        if reference_content_object:
+            content_type = ContentType.objects.get_for_model(reference_content_object)
+        else:
+            content_type = self.content_type
+        if '%s' in description and content_type:
+            model = content_type.model_class()
             model_name = re.sub(r'([a-z])([A-Z])', r'\1 \2', model.__name__).lower()
             description = description % model_name
 
         return description
 
+    description = property(get_description)
+
     @staticmethod
     def rebuild_role_ancestor_list(additions, removals):
         '''