Are Survey Experiments as Valid as Field Experiments in Management Research? An Empirical Comparison Using the Case of Ethnic Employment Discrimination

Wulff, Jesper; Villadsen, Anders Ryom

doi:10.1111/emre.12342

Cited by 27 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(82 reference statements)

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“…Artificial applications with a randomly assigned ethnic Danish or ethnic Middle Eastern name were sent to real job vacancies. Thereby, we also obtained data on how names affect real‐world decisions (in contrast to vignette experiments, as discussed in Schram et al [] and Wulff and Villadsen []). Data from Statistics Denmark were used to identify the six most often used names for citizens with Danish and non‐Western origins, respectively.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Good Performance Reduce Bad Behavior? Antecedents of Ethnic Employment Discrimination in Public Organizations

Guul

Villadsen

Wulff

2019

Public Administration Review

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Equal treatment is a key feature of modern bureaucracy. However, several studies have shown that public organizations discriminate against ethnic and racial minorities to different degrees. Which organizational features explain differences in discrimination is largely unknown. This article proposes that organizational performance relates to an organization's likelihood of engaging in employment discrimination and argues that poor‐performing organizations tend to be less open to new ideas and that decision makers in such organizations are more prone to stereotyping behavior. The study combines a field experiment in which applications were sent to real job vacancies in 71 Danish public schools with administrative data on the schools. Bayesian analyses show that minority applicants generally faced discrimination but that they experienced a higher callback rate from better‐performing schools than from poorer‐performing schools. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Good Performance Reduce Bad Behavior? Antecedents of Ethnic Employment Discrimination in Public Organizations

Guul

Villadsen

Wulff

2019

Public Administration Review

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“…Vignettes can be a useful tool for studying variables or situations that are difficult to manipulate, but such designs also make it difficult to manipulate or establish the salience of the variables or situations being studied. As a result, such studies may have very low external validity because participants may respond very differently to vignettes than to actual work settings in which they are more likely to face consequences or other relevant factors may weaken or even reverse their effects (Collett and Childs ; Wulff and Villadsen ). As BPA continues to develop, we should reduce our reliance on, or at the very least better recognize, the concerns associated with, such designs.…”

Section: “Methodolotry”: Applying More Lessons From Neighboring Discimentioning

confidence: 99%

The Behavioral Public Administration Movement: A Critical Reflection

Hassan

Wright²

2019

Public Administration Review

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Proponents of the behavioral public administration movement call for greater use of theories from psychology and experimental research designs to improve the rigor of public administration research. We agree that the use of such theories and methods will provide much-needed reinforcements to public administration research, but the approach taken so far might be too narrow and might unnecessarily alienate scholars using other perspectives and research approaches. Reflecting on our own training and experiences, we suggest that adopting a more inclusive approach that employs insights and research tools not only from psychology but also from other disciplines will provide public administration scholars with a stronger footing in their efforts to generate actionable knowledge for public managers and policy makers. We also identify some key methodological issues that behavioral public administration scholars need to consider and address as the use of experiments becomes more common in public administration research. Finally, we encourage public administration scholars interested in behavioral research questions to do more to contribute to broader management and organizational behavior research. Viewpoint

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“…New racism theories imply these beliefs are major causes of contemporary discrimination, but empirical data on "new racism" have focused on attitudes, expressed beliefs, and discourse -in short, on what people say, not what they do. Yet studies on racial matters, especially discrimination, show that there is no straightforward relationship between people's actions and attitudes Quillian 2005, Wulff andVilladsen 2020).…”

Section: Racism and Discriminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Perspectives on Racial Discrimination in Hiring: The Rise of Field Experiments

Quillian

Midtbøen

2021

Annu. Rev. Sociol.

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This article reviews studies of discrimination against racial and ethnic minority groups in hiring in cross-national perspective. We focus on field-experimental studies of hiring discrimination: studies that use fictitious applications from members of different racial and ethnic groups to apply for actual jobs. There are more than 140 field experimental studies of hiring discrimination against ethno-racial minority groups in 30 countries. We outline seventeen empirical findings from this body of studies. We also discuss individual and contextual theories of hiring discrimination, the relative strengths and weaknesses of field experiments to assess discrimination, and the history of such field experiments. The comparative scope of this body of research helps to move beyond micromodels of employer decision-making to better understand the roles of history, social context, institutional rules, and racist ideologies in producing discrimination. These studies show that racial and ethnic discrimination is a pervasive international phenomenon that has hardly declined over time, although levels vary significantly over countries. Evidence indicates that institutional rules regarding race and ethnicity in hiring can have an important influence on levels of discrimination. Suggestions for future research on discrimination are discussed. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 47 is July 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Are Survey Experiments as Valid as Field Experiments in Management Research? An Empirical Comparison Using the Case of Ethnic Employment Discrimination

Cited by 27 publications

References 50 publications

Does Good Performance Reduce Bad Behavior? Antecedents of Ethnic Employment Discrimination in Public Organizations

Does Good Performance Reduce Bad Behavior? Antecedents of Ethnic Employment Discrimination in Public Organizations

The Behavioral Public Administration Movement: A Critical Reflection

Comparative Perspectives on Racial Discrimination in Hiring: The Rise of Field Experiments

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