TY - JOUR
T1 - Racial prototypicality, affirmative action, and hiring decisions in a multiracial world
AU - Colarelli, Stephen M.
AU - Poole, Debra A.
AU - Unterborn, Kate
AU - D'Souza, Geeta C.
PY - 2010/6
Y1 - 2010/6
N2 - This research examined how the racial prototypicality of minority job applicants' faces influenced hiring decisions under different affirmative action (AA) policies: no AA, soft AA (recruitment of minorities with merit-based hiring), and hard AA (race as a tie-break factor in hiring). Participants (N=252) evaluated resume/photograph pairs, each containing a Caucasian and a Black applicant, with minority applicants representing three levels of racial prototypicality. The number of jobs awarded to minorities increased as Black racial prototypicality increased. Each level of AA policy strength increased the number of minority hires, but these increases came with a price: AA directives decreased the percentage of minority hires attributed to higher qualifications and increased perceptions that hires were due to AA more than was actually the case.
AB - This research examined how the racial prototypicality of minority job applicants' faces influenced hiring decisions under different affirmative action (AA) policies: no AA, soft AA (recruitment of minorities with merit-based hiring), and hard AA (race as a tie-break factor in hiring). Participants (N=252) evaluated resume/photograph pairs, each containing a Caucasian and a Black applicant, with minority applicants representing three levels of racial prototypicality. The number of jobs awarded to minorities increased as Black racial prototypicality increased. Each level of AA policy strength increased the number of minority hires, but these increases came with a price: AA directives decreased the percentage of minority hires attributed to higher qualifications and increased perceptions that hires were due to AA more than was actually the case.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77954116619&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1468-2389.2010.00498.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1468-2389.2010.00498.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77954116619
VL - 18
SP - 166
EP - 173
JO - International Journal of Selection and Assessment
JF - International Journal of Selection and Assessment
SN - 0965-075X
IS - 2
ER -