The effects of foreign accents on employment‐related decisions

Abstract

PurposeAlthough statistical evidence clearly demonstrates discrimination against foreign‐accented individuals in the workplace, surprisingly little research attention has been paid to how such individuals are evaluated when they apply for jobs. Thus, the aim of this paper is to examine the effects of applicant accent on access‐related employment decisions across four jobs that differed on job status and communication demands.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a 3 (applicant accent: Standard American English, French, and Japanese) × 2 (job status: low vs high)×2 (communication demands: low vs high) mixed‐factorial design, and data from 286 college students at two different locations.FindingsResults show that in comparison with French‐accented applicants, Japanese‐accented applicants fared worse on employment‐related decisions, especially for jobs that had high communication demands, even after controlling for applicant understandability and location. French‐accented applicants were viewed as favorably as, or more favorably than, Standard American English‐accented applicants.Research limitations/implicationsApplicant accent was confounded with applicant names. Thus, it is not known whether the obtained results are due to applicant accent, names, or both.Practical implicationsIt was found that organizations could do one of the following: use structured interviews; train interviewers on potential biases against foreign‐accented applicants; and provide more individuating information to reduce the effects of accent‐based stereotypes on employment‐related decisions.Originality/valueThe paper considers the communication demands of jobs and job status as influences on the evaluation of foreign‐accented applicants.

Fitting the mould: the role of employer perceptions in immigrant recruitment decision-making

“…First, while earlier studies (e.g. Lippi-Green, 1997;Carlsson and Rooth, 2007;Hosoda and Stone-Romero, 2010;Ghumman et al, 2013;King and Ahmad, 2010;Oreopoulos, 2011) have focused on the difficulties faced by migrants in seeking employment, the focus has largely been on surfacelevel factors that do not fully capture why the human capital of migrants are undervalued.…”

“…These factors can be dependent on non-Anglicised names (Leigh et al, 2009), heavy accents (Creese and Kambere, 2003), especially in relation to Asian accented immigrants (Hosoda and Stone-Romero, 2010), ethnic and religious reasons (McAllister and Moore, 1989) and cultural biases (Watson, 1996;Dunn, 2004;Wong, 2010). For example, Wong (2010, p. 191) notes that '…the recruiters examine the immigrant candidate's expression, communication skills, confidence, grooming, appearance, accent, sense of humour and ability to make small talk to determine their 'fit' with the organisational work culture'.…”

Immigrant Indian Professional‟s Experiences with Perceived Discrimination in the Australian Workpl

“…A foreign accent is a perceived disadvantage in organisations [18]. Even if immigrants are proficient in speaking English, there may still exist a bias against them.…”

“…Even if immigrants are proficient in speaking English, there may still exist a bias against them. These prejudices towards workers with accents are more notable for immigrants who hold or desire to hold professional jobs [18]. Such prejudices can limit access to employment as well as reduce self-esteem, cause dissatisfaction at work and stress for the immigrant [19].…”

“…Accent is considered to be an obstacle for integration of immigrants in the labour market of Australia [18]. Stereotypical attitudes are often activated because someone speaks with a foreign accent and may devalue the skills and talents of the minority employees in an organisation.…”