RACE AS A FACTOR IN JOB PLACEMENT: SERENDIPITOUS FINDINGS OF “ETHNIC DRIFT”

Abstract

In the course of analyzing data from a criterion‐related test validation study, an unexpected pattern of initial job placement was noticed. There was a statistically significant tendency in this large commercial bank to assign new employees to supervisors of the same ethnic group; and among those who were subsequently reassigned within 5 months, the level of such identity‐based homophily increased significantly further. Four alternative nonracial hypotheses that might have explained the pattern of reassignments were investigated and rejected. At present, no explanations are available of the processes underlying the pattern of intra‐organizational “ethnic drift.” Implications are noted for the study of cultural diversity and subgroup differences in organizations, and for the investigation of criterion relevance and test bias in validation studies.