Regional ethnic concentrations and ethnic discrimination in hiring: field experimental evidence from the Netherlands

Abstract

ABSTRACT As a result of global migration processes, Western societies have become increasingly ethnically diverse. Yet not all regions are equally affected by these immigration processes. The current study investigates whether and how ethnic discrimination in hiring is linked with the regional concentration of ethnic minorities, using original data of a large-scale field experiment on ethnic discrimination (N = 4.211) and detailed regional data in the Netherlands. The results show that greater exposure to ethnic minorities in a region is not clearly related with decreased (indicative of positive intergroup contact) or increased (indicative of group threat) ethnic discrimination in hiring. Rather, the findings provide more support for the familiarisation hypothesis: regional concentrations of ethnic minorities are positively associated with ethnic discrimination, however, this effect levels off and turns negative at high concentrations of ethnic minorities. This result holds particularly for minorities with non-Western migrant origins and minorities with Muslim migrant origins.