Company norms affect which traits are preferred in job candidates and may cause employment discrimination
Björklund, Fredrik LU
; Bäckström, Martin
LU
and Wolgast, Sima
LU
(2012)
In The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and applied
146(6).
p.579-594
- Abstract
- This study investigated a possible mechanism behind employment discrimination. Participants completed a recruitment task where emphasis on cohesion (employees should “fit in”) vs. fairness (everybody should be treated equally) was manipulated by describing the norms of a fictitious company differently. There was a comparatively stronger preference in the cohesion condition for traits and interview questions related to social competence (e.g. friendliness, gregariousness, empathy). Furthermore, participants in the cohesion condition primarily pictured socially competent employees, whereas those in the fairness condition primarily pictured employees possessing productivity-related characteristics (e.g. education, experience and talent). The... (More)
- This study investigated a possible mechanism behind employment discrimination. Participants completed a recruitment task where emphasis on cohesion (employees should “fit in”) vs. fairness (everybody should be treated equally) was manipulated by describing the norms of a fictitious company differently. There was a comparatively stronger preference in the cohesion condition for traits and interview questions related to social competence (e.g. friendliness, gregariousness, empathy). Furthermore, participants in the cohesion condition primarily pictured socially competent employees, whereas those in the fairness condition primarily pictured employees possessing productivity-related characteristics (e.g. education, experience and talent). The norm effect was moderated by participants’ awareness of the applicants’ ethnicity. When expecting applicants with foreign backgrounds, participants in the cohesion condition showed increased preference for selection methods related to social competence. Implications for recruitment practices are discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2295037
- author
- Björklund, Fredrik
LU
; Bäckström, Martin
LU
and Wolgast, Sima
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2012
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- recruitment, norms, person-organizational fit, bias, discrimination
- in
- The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and applied
- volume
- 146
- issue
- 6
- pages
- 579 - 594
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000308984600002
- scopus:84866605468
- pmid:23094472
- ISSN
- 1940-1019
- DOI
- 10.1080/00223980.2012.658459
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 11053356-38b4-4ce4-9b72-009cfaa8d7b9 (old id 2295037)
- alternative location
- http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00223980.2012.658459
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:22:56
- date last changed
- 2022-04-21 21:19:43
@article{11053356-38b4-4ce4-9b72-009cfaa8d7b9,
abstract = {{This study investigated a possible mechanism behind employment discrimination. Participants completed a recruitment task where emphasis on cohesion (employees should “fit in”) vs. fairness (everybody should be treated equally) was manipulated by describing the norms of a fictitious company differently. There was a comparatively stronger preference in the cohesion condition for traits and interview questions related to social competence (e.g. friendliness, gregariousness, empathy). Furthermore, participants in the cohesion condition primarily pictured socially competent employees, whereas those in the fairness condition primarily pictured employees possessing productivity-related characteristics (e.g. education, experience and talent). The norm effect was moderated by participants’ awareness of the applicants’ ethnicity. When expecting applicants with foreign backgrounds, participants in the cohesion condition showed increased preference for selection methods related to social competence. Implications for recruitment practices are discussed.}},
author = {{Björklund, Fredrik and Bäckström, Martin and Wolgast, Sima}},
issn = {{1940-1019}},
keywords = {{recruitment; norms; person-organizational fit; bias; discrimination}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{6}},
pages = {{579--594}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
series = {{The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and applied}},
title = {{Company norms affect which traits are preferred in job candidates and may cause employment discrimination}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2012.658459}},
doi = {{10.1080/00223980.2012.658459}},
volume = {{146}},
year = {{2012}},
}