Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Ethnic discrimination is a topic that has been widely researched and is relevant in the hiring process. The aim of this study was to see if the ethnic-sounding name of a job applicant leads to lower scores on employability, warmth and competence than for job applicants with typically native names. Another aim was to see whether the gender and hiring experience of the recruiters affects whether or not they differentiate between job applicants with ethnic-sounding names and applicants with typically native names when rating them on employability, warmth and competence. A study design called framed field experiment was applied providing the opportunity to acquire information about the recruiters’ gender and hiring experience. In total, 354 individuals, all with experience from hiring, participated in this study. Each of them was presented with a resume of a fictive job applicant that either had an ethnic-sounding name or a typically native name, and was either male or female. Then the participants were shown the same job advertisement and a questionnaire in which they evaluated the applicants and answered some background questions about themselves. The resumes were entirely identical for ethnic and native applicants apart from the name and gender. The main results showed no statistically significant difference in how recruiters evaluate native and ethnic named applicants on employability, warmth and competence. The results on the recruiters’ background showed that female recruiters rated both types of resumes equally on employability and warmth, but not on competence. Males, however, rated both types of resumes equally on employability, warmth and competence. When dividing the recruiters into two groups, one with lower hiring experience and the other with higher hiring experience, the results showed that experienced recruiters did not differentiate between the two groups when ratings employability, warmth and competence, but those with less experience rated the groups differently on warmth, but equally on competence and employability.
Source: Skemman
Author: Alma Sigurðardóttir 1981-
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6982662709