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How does the job applicants' ethnicity affect the selection process? : Norms, Preferred competencies and expected fit

Wolgast, Sima LU (2017)
Abstract
The present thesis aimed to study different factors influencing recruiters when recruiting from an applicant pool with applicants from an ethnic ingroup and outgroup. Ethnicity was predicted to influence recruiters’ perception and behaviour in different phases during recruitment. Study I demonstrated that company norms affect recruiters’ perception of what an employee should be like. Company norms, either emphasizing cohesion (employees should “fit in”) or fairness (everybody should be treated equally), were presented to participants. We found an increased focus on Person–Group fit (such as social competence) when norms related to workforce cohesion (company requirement to fit in) were introduced and an increased focus on for Person–Job... (More)
The present thesis aimed to study different factors influencing recruiters when recruiting from an applicant pool with applicants from an ethnic ingroup and outgroup. Ethnicity was predicted to influence recruiters’ perception and behaviour in different phases during recruitment. Study I demonstrated that company norms affect recruiters’ perception of what an employee should be like. Company norms, either emphasizing cohesion (employees should “fit in”) or fairness (everybody should be treated equally), were presented to participants. We found an increased focus on Person–Group fit (such as social competence) when norms related to workforce cohesion (company requirement to fit in) were introduced and an increased focus on for Person–Job fit (such as job specific skills and abilities), when fairness norms related to equal opportunity were introduced. The norm effect was moderated by participants’ awareness of the applicants’ ethnicity. When expecting applicants with foreign background, participants in the cohesion condition showed an increased preference for selection methods related to social competence.
Study II revealed that outgroup applicants (of Arabic origin) prompt recruiters to focus more on whether they have integrated cultural norms and values fitting the ingroup-norms (Person-Culture fit), as well as the match between the pplicants and their would-be work team (Person-Group fit). When applicants were from the ethnic ingroup, recruiters focused more on questions pertaining to the match between the applicants’ abilities and the specific demands of the job (Person-Job fit). In addition, the study revealed that questions prepared for outgroup applicants were rated as less useful for hireability decisions, and that interview summaries emphasizing PersonJob fit were perceived as more useful.
Study III investigated whether increased structure during selection improves the outcome. Participants where either provided with tools for systemizing information about the job and the applicants (structured selection), or no such tools (unstructured selection). We hypothesized and found that a structured process improves the ability to identify job-relevant criteria and leads to the selection of more qualified applicants, even when in-group favouritism is tempting (e.g. when the outgroup applicants are more competent). Increasing structure helped recruiters select more competent applicants. Furthermore, increasing the motivation to carefully follow the structured procedure strengthened these effects. We conclude that structure pays off, and that motivational factors should be taken into account in order for it to have the optimal effect.
In all, the findings provide support for the hypotheses that different P-E fit aspects are focused on when recruiters are exposed to outgroup applicants and that structured recruitment leads to an improved ability to identify and select the most competent applicants. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Denna avhandling studerar faktorer som påverkar rekryterare då de skall välja bland jobbsökande med olika etnisk bakgrund. Generellt förväntades att de sökandes etnicitet skulle påverka rekryterares val och deras uppfattning om vad som är viktigt att ta fasta på hos en arbetssökande person, och att detta kan ske i olika faser av rekryteringsprocessen.
Studie 1 visade att företagsnormer påverkar rekryterares uppfattning av hur en
potentiell medarbetare bör vara. Två olika normbeskrivningar, en som betonade
sammanhållning (vikten av att framtida medarbetare skall ”passa in”) och en som
betonade rättvisa (att alla skulle behandlas lika), presenterades för deltagarna.
Studien visade att deltagarna tog fasta på... (More)
Denna avhandling studerar faktorer som påverkar rekryterare då de skall välja bland jobbsökande med olika etnisk bakgrund. Generellt förväntades att de sökandes etnicitet skulle påverka rekryterares val och deras uppfattning om vad som är viktigt att ta fasta på hos en arbetssökande person, och att detta kan ske i olika faser av rekryteringsprocessen.
Studie 1 visade att företagsnormer påverkar rekryterares uppfattning av hur en
potentiell medarbetare bör vara. Två olika normbeskrivningar, en som betonade
sammanhållning (vikten av att framtida medarbetare skall ”passa in”) och en som
betonade rättvisa (att alla skulle behandlas lika), presenterades för deltagarna.
Studien visade att deltagarna tog fasta på arbetssökandes ”sociala kompetens”, när företaget betonade sammanhållning samt vikten av att ”passa in” i företaget (så kallat person-grupp matchning, P-G fit). När företagsnormen betonade rättvisa däremot, tog deltagarna istället fasta på jobbrelevanta kriterier (så kallad personjobb matchning, P-J fit) i större utsträckning. När de sedan fick veta att det fanns sökande med utländsk bakgrund i sökandegruppen, visade deltagarna i den betingelse där företagsnormen betonade vikten av att ”passa in”, en ytterligare förstärkt preferens för urvalsmetoder relaterat till att bedöma den sökandes sociala kompetens.
Studie 2 visade att jobbsökande med ”arabiskt” ursprung bidrar till att rekryterare med ”svenskt” ursprung i större utsträckning fokuserar på huruvida den jobbsökande har integrerat ingruppens kulturella normer och värderingar (personkultur matchning, P-C fit) och hur väl de passar in i en arbetsgrupp (person-grupp matchning, P-G fit). När de jobbsökande däremot var från den egna ingruppen, fokuserade rekryterarna mer på frågor som undersökte den sökandes jobbspecifika förmågor och färdigheter (person-jobb matchning, P-J fit). Vidare visade studien att de frågor som rekryterarna i större utsträckning hade föreslagit i relation till utgruppen skattades som mindre relevanta för vidare anställningsbeslut och att intervjusammanfattningar som fokuserade på person-jobb matchning ansågs mer användbara.
Studie tre undersökte om en ökad strukturering av information och
informationsbearbetning under en rekrytering kan bidra till bättre beslut. Deltagarna försågs antingen med verktyg som hjälpte dem att systematisera information om jobbet och deltagarna (strukturerad selektionsmetod), eller så fick de inte tillgång till dessa verktyg. Studien visade att de som arbetade strukturerat hade bättre möjlighet att både identifiera jobbrelevanta förmågor och välja de mest lämpade kandidaterna, även när ingruppsfavoritism var lockande (som när utgruppskandidaterna var mest kompetenta). Ökad struktur i rekryteringen bidrog alltså till att de mest kompetenta kandidaterna valdes till jobbet i större utsträckning. Vidare visade studien att, om man ökar deltagarnas motivation till att utföra rekryteringen noggrant, så stärks ovanstående effekter. Slutsatsen är att systematisering av information under en rekrytering fungerar och att rekryterares motivation att genomföra en rekrytering systematiskt är avgörande.
Ovanstående resultat och fynd stödjer hypotesen om att olika person-miljö
matchning (P-E fit) fokuseras när rekryterare exponeras för jobbsökande med annan bakgrund än den etniskt ”svenska” och att ett strukturerat arbetssätt under en rekrytering bidrar till bättre möjligheter för rekryterare att identifiera och välja de mest kompetenta kandidaterna. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Professor Derous, Eva, Ghent University
organization
alternative title
Hur påverkar den sökandes etnicitet rekryteringsprocessen? : Normer, Föredragna kompetenser och förväntad anpassning
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Discrimination, Ethnicity, Arab, systematic recruitment, Organizational norms, Person Environment fit, organizational psychology, intergroup relations, in-group and out-group, in-group favoritism, stereotypes, Social psychology, diskriminering, etnicitet, arab, systematiskt rekrytering, organisations normer, Person-miljö matchning, organisations psykologi, intergrupp relationer, in-grupp och ut-grupp, in-grupps favouritism, Stereotyper, social psykologi
pages
136 pages
publisher
Lund University
defense location
Eden auditorium, Paradisgatan 5H, Lund
defense date
2017-10-13 13:15:00
ISBN
9789177534245
9789177534242
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
fb178400-8bd4-4765-8199-7a3b912607df
date added to LUP
2017-09-09 10:59:01
date last changed
2021-04-26 19:55:04
@phdthesis{fb178400-8bd4-4765-8199-7a3b912607df,
  abstract     = {{The present thesis aimed to study different factors influencing recruiters when recruiting from an applicant pool with applicants from an ethnic ingroup and outgroup. Ethnicity was predicted to influence recruiters’ perception and behaviour in different phases during recruitment. Study I demonstrated that company norms affect recruiters’ perception of what an employee should be like. Company norms, either emphasizing cohesion (employees should “fit in”) or fairness (everybody should be treated equally), were presented to participants. We found an increased focus on Person–Group fit (such as social competence) when norms related to workforce cohesion (company requirement to fit in) were introduced and an increased focus on for Person–Job fit (such as job specific skills and abilities), when fairness norms related to equal opportunity were introduced. The norm effect was moderated by participants’ awareness of the applicants’ ethnicity. When expecting applicants with foreign background, participants in the cohesion condition showed an increased preference for selection methods related to social competence.<br/>Study II revealed that outgroup applicants (of Arabic origin) prompt recruiters to focus more on whether they have integrated cultural norms and values fitting the ingroup-norms (Person-Culture fit), as well as the match between the pplicants and their would-be work team (Person-Group fit). When applicants were from the ethnic ingroup, recruiters focused more on questions pertaining to the match between the applicants’ abilities and the specific demands of the job (Person-Job fit). In addition, the study revealed that questions prepared for outgroup applicants were rated as less useful for hireability decisions, and that interview summaries emphasizing PersonJob fit were perceived as more useful.<br/>Study III investigated whether increased structure during selection improves the outcome. Participants where either provided with tools for systemizing information about the job and the applicants (structured selection), or no such tools (unstructured selection). We hypothesized and found that a structured process improves the ability to identify job-relevant criteria and leads to the selection of more qualified applicants, even when in-group favouritism is tempting (e.g. when the outgroup applicants are more competent). Increasing structure helped recruiters select more competent applicants. Furthermore, increasing the motivation to carefully follow the structured procedure strengthened these effects. We conclude that structure pays off, and that motivational factors should be taken into account in order for it to have the optimal effect.<br/>In all, the findings provide support for the hypotheses that different P-E fit aspects are focused on when recruiters are exposed to outgroup applicants and that structured recruitment leads to an improved ability to identify and select the most competent applicants.}},
  author       = {{Wolgast, Sima}},
  isbn         = {{9789177534245}},
  keywords     = {{Discrimination; Ethnicity; Arab; systematic recruitment; Organizational norms; Person Environment fit; organizational psychology; intergroup relations; in-group and out-group; in-group favoritism; stereotypes; Social psychology; diskriminering; etnicitet; arab; systematiskt rekrytering; organisations normer; Person-miljö matchning; organisations psykologi; intergrupp relationer; in-grupp och ut-grupp; in-grupps favouritism; Stereotyper; social psykologi}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Lund University}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{How does the job applicants' ethnicity affect the selection process? : Norms, Preferred competencies and expected fit}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/30958727/Wolgast_Sima_How_does_the_job_applicants_ethnicity.2017.pdf}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}