The Role of Employer Behaviour in Immigrant

1
The Role of Employer Behaviour in Immigrant
Racial/Ethnic Minority Labour Market Disadvantage

• Meredith McLellan
• March 13, 2006

2
Context

• Disadvantageous labour market outcomes for
  immigrants and racial/ethnic minorities
• Underemployment / skill underutilization
• Economic disparity / earnings differentials
• Segmented labour markets
• Li (1998) Non-white origin creates a penalty
  for all visible minorities in the labour market.

3
Research Questions

• What are the labour market processes at work that
  might contribute to these disadvantages?
• What role does employer behaviour play?
• Do employers in the occupational mainstream
  create barriers in access to jobs?

4
A Problematic Area of Study

• Absent or ambiguous data
• Hiring processes are infrequently documented
  (Petersen, Saporta Seidel, 2005)
• Racist attitudes have evolved to become more
  subtle and ambivalent (Ziegert Hanges, 2005)
• Self-censorship of controversial beliefs
  (Supphellen et. al., 1997)
• Elusiveness of human decision making
• Literature focuses primarily on gender and racial
  discrimination

5
Types of Studies

• Field trials / situation testing
• Laboratory experiments / simulated hiring
  decisions
• Case studies
• Surveys

6
Aspects of the Hiring Process
Phase
Definition
Tools Processes
Recruitment
Identifying and contacting the relevant labour
market
Advertising, networks, agencies
Narrowing the applicant pool
Resume assessment, testing
Screening
Selection
Choosing a candidate to hire
Interviews, testing, reference checks
7
Validity of Hiring Tools and Processes adapted
from Catano et. al. (1997)
8
Recruitment Some Findings

• Recruitment procedures affect the composition of
  the applicant pool (Peterson, Saporta Seidel
  2005)
• Firms discriminate against minority groups by
  posting fewer vacancies in the section of the
  labour market where minority groups are located
  (Fugazza 2003 Neckerman Kirschenman 1991)
• Employer reputation affects who applies
• Current employees play a role in referral
  networks

9
Screening Some Findings

• Bertrand Mullainathan (2003)
• African American-sounding names vs.
  white-sounding names on resumes whites received
  more calls for interviews
• Ziegert Hanges (2005)
• Black applicants more often rejected in
  in-basket exercise
• Petersen Dietz (2005)
• Fewer foreign applicants selected for a job
  interview

10
Selection Some Findings

• Bias against blacks in cognitive ability tests
  (Chung-Yan Cronshaw, 2002)
• New Zealand HR managers reveal clear preferences
  for country of origin (Coates Carr, 2005)
• Greater likelihood of choosing in-group members
  over out-group members (Lewis Sherman, 2003)
• Adverse impact of assessment centre evaluations
  on Hispanic job applicants (Fiedler, 2001)
• Some evidence that blacks do poorly in job
  interviews in part because of cultural
  differences (Neckerman Kirschenman, 1991)

11
Person-Organization Fit

• Compatibility between people and organizations
• Values
• Goals
• Needs
• Personality
• Other aspects of fit
• Person-vocation
• Person-group
• Person-job

12
Person-Organization Fit from Kristof (1996)
PERSON
ORGANIZATION
Characteristics Culture/Climate Values Goals Norm
s
Characteristics Personality Values Goals Attitude
s
supplementary fit
Supplies Resources financial physical psychologic
al Opportunities task-related interpersonal
Supplies Resources time effort commitment experie
nce KSAs task interpersonal
Demands Resources time effort commitment experien
ce KSAs task interpersonal
Demands Resources financial physical psychologica
l Opportunities task-related interpersonal
complementary fit
13
Explanations

• Ingroup favouritism
• Social dominance theory
• Organizational climate
• Aversive racism

14
Selected References

• Bauder, H. (2003). Brain abuse, or the
  devaluation of immigrant labour in Canada.
  Antipode 35 (4), 699-717.
• Bertrand, M., Mullainathan, S. (2003). Are
  Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and
  Jamal? A field experiment on labor market
  discrimination. Working Paper 9873. National
  Bureau of Economic Research.
• Catano, V., Cronshaw, S., Wiesner, W., Hackett,
  R., Methot, L. (1997). Recruitment and
  Selection in Canada. Toronto Nelson.
• Chung-Yan, G., Cronshaw, S. (2002) A critical
  re-examination and analyis of cognitive ability
  tests using the Thorndike model of fairness.
  Journal of Occpuational and Organizational
  Psychology 75, 489-509.
• Coates, K., Carr, S. (2005). Skilled
  immigrants and selection bias A theory-based
  field study from New Zealand. International
  Journal of Intercultural Relations 29, 577-599.
• Darity, Jr., W., Mason, P. (1998). Evidence
  on discrimination in employment Codes of color,
  codes of gender. The Journal of Economic
  Perspectives 12 (2), 63-90.
• Dovidio, J., Gaertner, S. (2000). Aversive
  racism and selection decisions 1989 and 1999.
  Psychological Science 11 (4), 315-319.
• Fiedler, A. (2001). Adverse impact on Hispanic
  job applicants during assessment center
  evaluations. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral
  Sciences 23 (1), 102-110.
• Fugazza, M. (2003). Racial discrimination
  Theories, facts and policy. International Labour
  Review 142 (4), 507-541.

15
Selected References

• Jewson, N., Mason, D. (1986). Modes of
  discrimination in the recruitment process
  Formalisation, fairness and efficiency.
  Sociology 20 (1), 43-63.
• Kristof, A. (1996). Person-organization fit An
  integrative review of its conceptualizations,
  measurement, and implications. Personnel
  Psychology 49, 1-49.
• Latham, G., Sue-Chan, C. (1998). Selecting
  employees in the 21st century Predicting the
  contribution of industrial-organizational
  psychology to Canada. Canadian Psychology 39,
  14-.
• Lewis, A., Sherman, S. (2003). Hiring you
  makes me look bad Social-identiy based
  reversals of the ingroup favoritism effect.
  Organizational Behavior and Human Decision
  Processes 90, 262-276.
• Neckerman, K., Kirschenman, J. (1991). Hiring
  strategies, racial bias, and inner-city workers.
  Social Problems 38 (4), 433-447.
• Petersen, L., Dietz, J. (2005). Prejudice and
  enforcement of workforce homogeneity as
  explanations for employment discrimination.
  Journal of Applied Social Psychology 35 (1),
  144-159.
• Petersen, T., Saporta, I., Seidel, M. (2005).
  Getting hired Sex and race. Industrial
  Relations 44 (3), 416-443.
• Supphellen, M., Kvitastein, O., Johansen, S.
  (1997). Projective questioning and ethnic
  discrimination A procedure for measuring
  employer bias. Public Opinion Quarterly 61,
  208-224.
• Zeigert, J., Hanges, P. (2005). Employment
  discrimination The role of implicit attitudes,
  motivation and a climate for racial bias.
  Journal of Applied Psychology 90 (3), 553-562.