Résumé screening heuristic outcomes: an examination of hiring manager evaluation bias

Abstract

PurposeHiring managers commonly rely on system-justifying motives and attitudes during résumé screening. Given the prevalent use of modern résumé formats (e.g. LinkedIn) that include not only an applicant's credentials but also headshot photographs, visible sources of information such as an applicant's race are also revealed while a hiring manager simultaneously evaluates a candidate's suitability. As a result, such screening is likely to activate evaluation bias. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of a hiring manager's perceptions of race-system justification, that is, support for the status quo in relations between Black and White job candidates in reinforcing or mitigating hiring bias related to in-group and out-group membership during résumé screening.Design/methodology/approachDrawing from system justification theory (SJT) in a pre-selection context, in an experimental study involving 174 human resource managers, the authors tested two boundary conditions of the expected relationship between hiring manager and job candidate race on candidate ratings: (1) a hiring manager's affirmative action (AA) attitudes and system-justifying attitudes and (2) a job candidate's manipulated suitability for a position. This approach enabled us to juxtapose the racial composition of hiring manager–job candidate dyads under conditions in which the job candidate's race and competency for a posted position were manipulated to examine the conditions under which White and Black hiring managers are likely to make biased evaluations. The authors largely replicated these findings in two follow-up studies with 261 students and 361 online raters.FindingsThe authors found that information on a candidate's objective suitability for a job resulted in opposite-race positive bias among Black evaluators and same-race positive bias among White evaluators in study 1 alone. Conversely, positive attitudes toward AA policies resulted in in-group favoritism and strengthened a positive same-race bias for Black evaluators (study 1 and 2). We replicated this finding with a third sample to directly test system-justifying attitudes (study 3). The way in which White raters rated White candidates reflected the same attitudes against systems (AA attitudes) that Black raters rating Black candidates exhibited in the authors’ first two studies. Positive system-justifying attitudes or positive attitudes toward AA did not, however, translate into the elevation of same-race candidate ratings of suitability above those of opposite-race candidates.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the size of the sample is on par with the percentage of Blacks nationwide in private-sector managerial-level positions ideally, the authors would have preferred to oversample Black HR managers. Given the scarcity of focus on Black HR managers, future researchers, using diverse samples of evaluators should also consider not only managers' and candidates' race but also their social dominance orientation. Moreover, it is important that future researchers use more racially diverse samples from other industries to more fully identify the ways in which the dynamics of system-justifying processes can emerge to influence evaluation bias during résumé screening.Practical implicationsAdvances in technology pose new challenges to HR hiring practices. This study attempts to fill a void regarding the unintended effects of bias during digital résumé screening. These trends have important HR implications. Initial screening of a job applicant's credentials while concurrently viewing the individual's photograph is likely to activate subconscious evaluation bias, produces inaccurate applicant ratings. This study's findings should caution hiring managers about the potential for bias to arise when viewing job candidates' digital résumés and encourage them to carefully examine various boundary conditions on racial similarity bias effects on applicant pre-screening and subsequent hiring decisions.Social implicationsThe study’s results suggest that bias might be attenuated as organizational leaders engage in efforts to understand their system-justifying motives and examine perceptions of the workplace social hierarchy (i.e. responses to status hierarchies) linked to perceptions of the status quo. For example, understanding how system justifying motives influence evaluation bias will inform how best to design training and other interventions that link discussions of workforce diversity to the relationships among groups within the organization's social hierarchy. This line of research should be further explored to better understand the complex forces at work when hiring managers adopt system-justifying motives during hiring evaluations.Originality/valueThe authors address the limitations of prior research by examining interactions between boundary conditions in a real-world context using real human resources hiring managers and more contemporary personnel-screening practices to test changes in the direction and strength of the relationship between hiring manager–job candidate race and hiring manager evaluations. Thus, the authors’ findings have implications for hiring bias and understanding of system-justification processes, particularly regarding how, when and why hiring managers support the status quo (i.e. perpetuate inequity) even if they are disadvantaged as a result.

Potential bias when using social media for selection: Differential effects of candidate demographic characteristics, race match, perceived similarity, and profile detail

“…First, we were not able to use LinkedIn specifically, so our profiles may not have been perceived as legitimate as they would be in practice. While most hiring studies have used real LinkedIn profiles, a few created replicas (e.g., Campbell & Hahl, 2022; Moore et al, 2023; Paik et al, 2014). We simulated the format as closely as possible.…”

“…To test our proposed research model, we used an experimental design where participants evaluated two LinkedIn‐like profiles for a position. This approach, where personnel decisions are simulated, and candidate demographic characteristics (like gender and race) are manipulated, is common both in hiring discrimination studies in general (Moore et al, 2023; Neumark, 2018) and those focused specifically on hiring bias on LinkedIn (e.g., Campbell & Hahl, 2022).…”

“…Conversely, other studies have found that women and Whites are rated higher than men and people of color (Roulin & Levashina, 2019; Van Iddekinge et al, 2016). Research in this area has increased with recent studies examining age (Krings et al, 2021), gender (Campbell & Hahl, 2022), and race (Moore et al, 2023). However, more research is needed to ensure the legality of this increasingly common selection practice.…”

Recruitment in SMEs: the role of managerial practices, technology and innovation

“…Hence, efficient HR practices ensure that the organization is staffed with the right people positioned in the best-fitted roles, with the necessary skills and resources to meet its objectives. By aligning the HR strategies with the organization’s goals, an organization can ensure that its workforce is properly positioned, motivated and trained to perform at their best and contribute to the overall long-term success, regardless of the size of the organization (Moore et al , 2023).…”

“…In the recent years, the aim of adopting digital recruitment in companies has been discussed by various researchers (Ahmed, 2018; Patterson et al , 2016). This issue has particular importance because literature (Moore et al , 2023) showed that companies could increase hiring efficiency by integrating technology into the recruitment process and updating the recruitment procedures.…”