The Gap Between What California Community Colleges Say and What They Do: A Quantitative Analysis of the Use of Legally Inadvisable Questions on Faculty Job Applications

Abstract

Research on the content of job applications has established that employers across various sectors of the U.S. labor market utilize legally inadvisable questions on their application forms (Brown, 2016; Burrington, 1982; Cano, 1985; Coady, 1986; Koen et al., 2012; Lowell & DeLoach, 1982; Rhodes, 1993; Vodanovich & Low, 1982; Wallace et al., 2000; Wallace & Vodanovich, 2004). Legally inadvisable questions in the context of job applications solicit non-job-related information that can reveal an applicant’s protected status if answered (Vodanovich & Lowe, 1992). This dissertation aims to shed light on the use of legally inadvisable questions on faculty job applications within the California Community College system. Additionally, this dissertation explored associations between legally inadvisable questions and district MSI designations, the percentage of faculty who self-identify as African American and Black, and Hispanic and Latina/e/o/x. Data for this dissertation was collected through content analysis of publicly available job applications on district webpages and workforce demographic data on the California Community College State Chancellor’s Office DataMart webpage. The findings revealed that 772 legally inadvisable questions are used on faculty job applications throughout 72 of the systems’ 73 districts. A statistically significant association was found between districts’ MSI designations and the overall measure of racial and ethnic diversity within faculty workforces. The findings did not demonstrate a statistically significant association between the use of legally inadvisable questions and the overall measure of racial and ethnic diversity within faculty workforces or the percentage of faculty who self-identify as African American and Black, and Hispanic and Latin/a/e/x. These findings indicate the need for additional studies to explore the scope and impact of legally inadvisable job application questions and other forms of pre-employment discrimination in higher education settings.