Inferring incompetence from employment status: an audit-like experiment

Celestin Okoroji, Ilka H. Gleibs and Simon Howard

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Audit studies demonstrate that unemployed people are less likely to receive a callback when they apply for a job than employed candidates, the reason for this is unclear. Across two experiments (N = 461), we examine whether the perceived competence of unemployed candidates accounts for this disparity. In both studies, participants assessed one of two equivalent curriculum vitae’s, differing only on the current employment status. We find that unemployed applicants are less likely to be offered an interview or hired. The relationship between the employment status of the applicant and these employment-related outcomes is mediated by the perceived competence of the applicant. We conducted a mini meta-analysis, finding that the effect size for the difference in employment outcomes was d = .274 and d = .307 respectively, while the estimated indirect effect was -.151[-.241, -.062]. These results offer a mechanism for the differential outcomes of job candidates by employment status.

Keywords: unemployment; stereotype content; audit studies; decision making (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 13 pages
Date: 2023-03-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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Published in PLOS ONE, 9, March, 2023, 18(3). ISSN: 1932-6203

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:117806

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