Abstract
Organisations are important gatekeepers in the labour market inclusion of immigrants and their children. Research has regularly documented ethnic discrimination in hiring decisions. Aiming to further our understanding of the role of organisations in influencing the professional trajectories of individuals of immigrant origin, this paper investigates the recruitment practices of public administrations. Drawing on approaches from organisational sociology and a qualitative case study of public administrations in the German state of Berlin, the article identifies three crucial elements of organisational decision-making affecting the recruitment of staff of immigrant origin: decisions regarding advertisement strategies, formal criteria, and individual candidates. Further, the article shows the underlying decision-making rationalities and the role of organisational contexts and ethnic stereotypes for recruitment-related decisions.
Highlights
The incorporation of immigrants and their children in the labour market is a key aspect of societal inclusion and has been a long-standing research topic in migration studies (e.g. van Tubergen et al 2004; Heath and Cheung 2007; Kogan 2007; Pichler 2011)
Studies on hiring discrimination show the relevance of organisational decisions for the access to employment
This article investigated how public administrations shape the access of individuals of immigrant origin to their workforce, aiming to shed light on the role of organisations for the professional trajectories of immigrants and their children
Summary
The incorporation of immigrants and their children in the labour market is a key aspect of societal inclusion and has been a long-standing research topic in migration studies (e.g. van Tubergen et al 2004; Heath and Cheung 2007; Kogan 2007; Pichler 2011). Crul et al 2012; Nohl et al 2014; Konyali 2017; Keskiner and Crul 2017; Lang et al 2018) This literature mainly focuses on institutional and individual-level factors shaping labour market opportunities and professional careers. It has less investigated the role of work organisations. Experimental studies demonstrate that applicants with an immigrant or ethnic minority background have lesser chances to be invited to interviews (for an (2021) 9:26 overview see Zschirnt and Ruedin 2016), and research on employer decision-making confirms discrimination in selection decisions (Jenkins 1986; Kirschenman and Neckerman 1991; Moss and Tilly 2001; Imdorf 2008; Scherr et al 2015). Valuable insights into the organisational conditions for immigrants’ and ethnic minorities’ professional inclusion are provided by studies on diversity policies in organisations (e.g. Kalev et al 2006; Groeneveld and Verbeek 2012; Dobbin et al 2015) and the accommodation of and discourses about diversity at the workplace (e.g. Zanoni and Janssens 2015; Dobusch 2017; Adam and Rea 2018); yet this research focuses less on concrete recruitment practices
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