Substantive Blog Post #1 (Research for Final Paper)
I have decided to write my paper on discrimination in the workplace. I not only want to focus on gender, but also racial discrimination.
I read an article last Spring that has left an everlasting imprint in my mind towards racial discrimination. In this article the researcher conducted a computerized audit by matching candidate pairs and applying for jobs listed on a national job-search website. They applied for 1,008 jobs in three geographic regions in the United States to examine how race and college selectivity affect the likelihood of receiving an employer request by email or phone for a job interview.
To create these profiles the researcher paired elite universities with nationally ranked but less selective universities. Next, 3 names were chosen for each race. Black male names: Jalen, Lamar and DaQuan. Black females: Nia, Ebony and Shanice. White males: Caleb, Charlie and Ronny. White females: Aubrey, Erica and Lesly. Then they chose race neutral last names. He had 24 different matched profiles. The resumes and cover letters were overall the same he just altered some words, phrases and orders.
The results of this study showed that white candidates received more email responses than black candidates at 8.7 versus 6.1%, and more phone responses at 10% versus 6.4%. From the responses, whites are 1.5 times as likely to get a response as black candidates.The rate of employer responses has a strong relationship with both educational credentials and race.The results from these key findings in Table 4 show that employers strongly value a degree from an elite university but also discriminate against candidates with black names.
This article shows racial discrimination without the employer even meeting these candidates face-to-face. All of these candidates had the same credentials, but the ones who received a call back were the ones who had white names. I would like to address these issues in my paper as well as looking at gender discrimination.
-Kristen Flowers