Applicant Sex Research Articles

The interview in the admission process

Significant demographic, legal, and educational developments during the last ten years have led medical schools to review critically their selection procedures. A critical component of this review is the selection interview, since it is an integral part of most admission processes; however, some question its value. Interviews serve four purposes: information gathering, decision making, verification of application data, and recruitment. The first and last of these merit special attention. The interview enables an admission committee to gather information about a candidate that would be difficult or impossible to obtain by any other means yet is readily evaluated in an interview. Given the recent decline in numbers of applicants to and interest in medical school, many schools are paying closer attention to the interview as a powerful recruiting tool. Interviews can be unstructured, semistructured, or structured. Structuring involves analyzing what makes a medical student successful, standardizing the questions for all applicants, providing sample answers for evaluating responses, and using panel interviews (several interviewers simultaneously with one applicant). Reliability and validity of results increase with the degree of structuring. Studies of interviewers show that they are often biased in terms of the rating tendencies (for instance, leniency or severity) and in terms of an applicant's sex, race, appearance, similarity to the interviewer, and contrast to other applicants). Training interviewers may reduce such bias. Admission committees should weigh the purposes of interviewing differently for various types of candidates, develop structured or semistructured interviews focusing on nonacademic criteria, and train the interviewers.

Job Applicants' Sex and Marital Status as Determinants of Evaluations of Resumes

Job applicants' sex and marital status were manipulated in a paradigm in which a resume was evaluated. Personnel recruiters were role-played by 117 MBA students, each of whom evaluated one resume. An interaction of sex of recruiter × applicant's marital status was found in relation to interviewing the applicant and applicant's motivation to work. Male recruiters rated the applicant more favorably in each case. No significant effects of applicant's sex × marital status were found. Implications for management were discussed.

The Aye of the Beholder: Susceptibility to Sexism and Beautyism in the Evaluation of Managerial Applicants1

Sex‐typed college students (16 males and 16 females) and androgynous college students (16 males and 16 females) evaluated the resumes of fictitious applicants for a managerial position described as requiring interpersonal competencies. The applicant's physical attractiveness, qualifications, and sex were systematically varied in the resumes. Five‐way analyses of variance were performed on the hiring decisions about the applicants and the perceived attractiveness, masculinity, femininity, and social desirability of the applicants. Hiring preferences were shown for attractive over unattractive applicants, for wellqualified over less qualified applicants, and among these preferred groups, males were favored over females. The subject's sex‐role orientation predictably moderated the effect of the applicant's attractiveness but not the effect of the applicant's sex. Sex‐typed subjects committed “beautyism” more than androgynous subjects did. The applicants' sex, qualifications, and attractiveness affected how they were perceived in terms of sex‐role attributes as well as sex‐irrelevant, socially desirable traits. Theoretical implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Forewarned is forearmed: Potential between and within sex discrimination

Effects of sex and concern for equal employment opportunity on responses to mailed job applicant resumes were examined. Applicant sex and concern for equal employment opportunity were systematically varied to yield four different resumes for two functionally equivalent applicants. One of the four resumes of the applicants was sent to 200 corporations. Sex of the applicant was identified using a female name and initials (neutral designation). Interest in equal employment opportunity was manipulated using a thesis title involving sex discrimination and no thesis reported. Results indicated that both the number of replies and number of positive responses were influenced by the interaction of an applicant's sex and interest in sex discrimination.

The effects of specifying job requirements and using explicit warnings to decrease sex discrimination in employment interviews

To determine the relative effectiveness of instructions designed to reduce sex discrimination in employment interviews, 96 students rated resumes for both a male and a female applicant. In one instructional condition subjects were told the specific requirements necessary for success on the job. In a second condition subjects were warned that it was illegal to discriminate on the applicant's sex. A third condition received both instructions, and a fourth received neither. Results revealed a series of interactions suggesting that the use of legal warning alone tended to increase the ratings of male applicants in some cases and influenced how male evaluators rated all applicants in other cases. The major implications were that legal warnings may actually bias ratings in favor of male applicants and may occasionally lead male evaluators to make lenient ratings. The specification of job requirements was suggested as a viable method of reducing discrimination.

Influence of strong versus weak fair employment policies and applicant's sex on selection decisions and salary recommendations in a management simulation.

Influence of strong versus weak fair employment policies and applicant's sex on selection decisions and salary recommendations in a management simulation.

Influence of strong versus weak fair employment policies and applicant's sex on selection decisions and salary recommendations in a management simulation.

Influence of strong versus weak fair employment policies and applicant's sex on selection decisions and salary recommendations in a management simulation.

Influence of sex and scholastic performance on reactions to job applicant resumés.

College of Business AdministrationOklahoma State UniversityThe possible existence of sex discrimination in the evaluation of job applicantresumes for accounting positions was investigated. Applicant sex and two levelsof scholastic performance were systematically varied to yield four differentresumes. One of four was sent at random to the personnel directors of 100corporations. The sex of the applicant was identifiable either as obviouslyfemale (named Linda) or was unspecified (initials L. C.). Scholastic perform-ance was manipulated to represent either a high performer (GPA = 3.8 out ofa possible 4.0) or an average performer (GPA = 2.8). The results indicatedthat both the number of replies to the resumes and the number of positiveresponses were influenced by the applicant's sex. The frequency of positive re-sponses was also influenced by the applicant's scholastic performance.The idea that women are inferior to men, his-torically, has been pervasive in Judeo-Christianthought (cf. Hunter, 1976). Prior to the rise ofthe women's liberation movement, sex role stereo-typing and discrimination excluded most womenfrom prestigious male-dominated occupations (Ep-stein, 1970). Professional positions within formalorganizations continue to be dominated by males.Access discrimination (cf. Terborg & Ilgen,197S) includes rejection of some groups of ap-plicants, lower starting salaries, and restriction ofentrance to higher level positions for non-job-re-lated reasons. Survey research continues to sup-port the existence of sexual discrimination in theaccess to professional positions in organizations(Fidell, 1970; Niemi, 1974; Shaw, 1972).Experimental evidence regarding hiring appli-cants is mixed. Terborg and Ilgen's (1975) find-ings using an in-basket simulation suggest thatmales and females of identical qualifications werehired with the same frequency. Research byDipboye, Fromkin, and Wiback (1975) on thescreening of applicants prior to the job interviewindicated that 30 students and 30 professional in-terviewers, reviewing 12 bogus resumes, preferredmale applicants to female applicants. However,Portions of this article were presented at the 37thannual meeting of the Academy of Management,Kissimmee, Florida, August 1977.Requests for reprints should be sent to William G.Zikmund, College of Business Administration, Okla-homa Stat e University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074.concern has been expressed (Landry & Bates,1973) that college students are an inappropriatesample. The present study was undertaken to in-vestigate experimentally the possible existence ofsex discrimination in the applicant screeningphase.Although sex discrimination was of major con-cern, scholastic performance was also manipulatedin the experiment. There is evidence that job ap-plicants with good scholastic performance will bepreferred over applicants with poor scholasticperformance (Dipboye et al., 1975; Hakel, Oh-nesorge, & Dunnette, 1970; Landry & Bates,1973; Wexley, Yukl, Kovacs, & Sanders, 1972).However, no significant interaction effect betweensex and scholastic performance was found by Dip-boye et al. (1975). Corporations were expectedto give employment preference to applicants withhigher grade point averages (GPAs).MethodSampleSubjects for the experiment were personnel di-rectors of 100 corporations listed in the CollegePlacement Annual as seeking accounting students.The accounting position was chosen for two rea-sons. First, the market is good, thereby increas-ing the probability that the resume would beevaluated (coupled with the advertisement for ac-counting students in the College Placement An-nual) . Second, accounting has been a traditionallymal occupation.

Effects of Mode of Information Presentation, Sex of Applicant, and Sex of Interviewer on Simulated Interview Decisions

A number of factors have been shown to influence the perceptions of interviewers in both laboratory and field research. Recently Dipboye, Frornkin, and Wiback (1975) found that scholastic record, the applicant's sex, and the applicant's physical attractiveness were important determinants of interviewers' evaluations when both students and interviewers served as subjects. The fact that physical attractiveness was important suggests that results may depend on whether the applicant is seen. Also, both the applicant's and the interviewer's sex may confound the effects of the applicant's physical attractiveness on the interviewer's evaluation. This research sought to determine if a resume is sufficient to simulate an interview and what effect sex differences have on the evaluation of an applicant. Subjects were 120 students enrolled in psychology courses and each was given one of the following: resume, videotaped interview, or audiotaped interview. Tapes and resumes were developed for rwo applicants (one male and one female). Pretesting indicated that the stimuli were equivalent. Ten males and ten females were randomly assigned to the three conditions. The dependent variable was an over-all favorability rating of the applicant. Analysis of variance indicated that mode of presentation produced no significant differences in the perceptions of the applicants. The applicant's sex (M,.I. = 5.5221.16; Mf.,.,. = 5.88-c.90) and the subject's sex seemed to influence the favorability ratings (F = 3.80, p < .lo; F = 3.14, p < .lo, respectively). Generally males (5.86&.79)' rated more leniently than female subjects (5.5321.24). Generalizing from results of a laboratory experiment is ofren difficult even though Bernstein, Hakel, and Harlan (1975) suggest chat students generally behave In the same fashion as interviewers in employment settings. Even though pilot testing su~gested that the two applicants were comparable stimuli, further research should deterrn~ne whether like effects would be observed for different applicants. The implications of this approach for equal opportunity for employment are obvious if sex differences do operate in the perception of applicants for employment.

Sexism and beautyism in personnel consultant decision making.

Each of 72 professional personnel consultants rated the suitability of one bogus applicant for selected masculine, feminine, and neuter jobs, and for alternatives to employment. Each resume was identical with the exception of the systematic variation of the applicant's sex and the omission or inclusion of a photo depicting the applicant as physically attractive or unattractive. As predicted, personnel decisions strongly reflected the operation of sex-role stereotypes as well as sex-relevant and sex-irrelevant attractiveness stereotypes. These factors similarly affected consultants' recommendations of alternatives to employment and consultants' causal attributions of applicants' projected occupational successes and failures. Sex-role typing provides a significant example of the powerful effects of stereotypes in the expansion and restriction of alternatives of expression and action available to men and to women in our society (Bern, 197S; Block, von der Lippe, & Block, 1973; Broverman, Vogel, Broverman, Clarkson, & Rosenkrantz, 1972). The influence of sex-role stereotypes on both access and employee treatment is centrally important to sex discrimination in employment, a practice prohibited by Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, The social sciences have begun to systematically examine sex discrimination in a number of settings, both naturalistic and experimental. The greatest amount of research has assessed discrimination against females in traditionally masculine, that is, male-dominated, occupations. Men have been evaluated more favorably than women for writing journal articles (Goldberg, 1968), for painting pictures (Pheterson, Kiesler, & Goldberg, 1971), and for

Effect of applicant's sex, race, and performance on employers' performance ratings: Some additional findings.

Effect of applicant's sex, race, and performance on employers' performance ratings: Some additional findings.

Effect of applicant's sex, race, and performance on employers' performance ratings: Some additional findings.

Effect of applicant's sex, race, and performance on employers' performance ratings: Some additional findings.

Effects of applicant's sex and difficulty of job on evaluations of candidates for managerial positions.

Effects of applicant's sex and difficulty of job on evaluations of candidates for managerial positions.