Employment Decisions as a Function of an Applicant's Accent

The influence of linguistic profiling on perceived employability: a new application of the systems theory framework of career development

“…Lower ratings of perceived employability were typically assigned to people of marginalized status, including immigrants and people who speak with accents that were identified by the listeners as “non-native” (e.g., Deprez-Sims and Morris, 2013; Hosoda et al. , 2012; Kalin and Rayko, 1978; Nguyen, 2010; Saßmannshausen, 2021; Schmaus and Kristen, 2022); speakers who were racial and ethnic minorities (e.g., Kushins, 2014; Terrell and Terrell, 1983), and speakers who listeners identified as “sounding” like a homosexual (Fontenele et al. , 2023).…”

“…A second component of the individual system is the person's personal characteristics. Lower ratings of perceived employability were typically assigned to people of marginalized status, including immigrants and people who speak with accents that were identified by the listeners as "non-native" (e.g., Deprez-Sims and Morris, 2013;Hosoda et al, 2012;Kalin and Rayko, 1978;Nguyen, 2010;Saßmannshausen, 2021;Schmaus and Kristen, 2022); speakers who were racial and ethnic minorities (e.g., Kushins, 2014;Terrell and Terrell, 1983), and speakers who listeners identified as "sounding" like a homosexual (Fontenele et al, 2023). These findings highlight the importance of personal characteristicsincluding nationality, ethnicity, race, and sexual orientationin understanding how linguistic profiling influences perceived employability.…”