Warm and competent Hassan = cold and incompetent Eric: A harsh equation of real-life hiring discrimination
Author
Summary, in English
In a field experiment, we sent out 5,636 job applications varying how Swedish (in-group) and Arab (out-group) applicants presented themselves in terms of two fundamental dimensions of social judgment: warmth and competence. Results indicate substantial discrimination where Arab applicants receive fewer invitations to job interviews. Conveying a warmer or more competent personality increases invitations. However, appearing both warm and competent seems to be especially important for Arab applicants. Arab applicants need to appear warmer and more competent than Swedish applicants to be invited equally often. The practical importance of signaling warmth and competence in labor market contexts is discussed.
Department/s
Publishing year
2012
Language
English
Pages
359-366
Publication/Series
Basic and Applied Social Psychology
Volume
34
Issue
4
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Topic
- Psychology
Keywords
- Ethnicity
- warmth
- competence
- hiring discrimination
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1532-4834