IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i15p9438-d877861.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Practical Impact of Bias against Minority Group Applicants in Resume Screening on Personnel Selection Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Jisoo Ock

    (Department of Business Administration, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Korea)

Abstract

Research has consistently shown that resume screening decisions, despite their practical importance and frequent use in practice, are prone to biases that disadvantage applicants in demographic minority groups. Using a two-stage multiple-hurdle selection simulation as an example (initial selection on resume scores, then selection on a composite of cognitive ability and conscientiousness test scores), the current study illustrates the practical impact that bias against ethnic minority group applicants in resume evaluation can have on the outcomes of selection. Results show that if the bias against minority group applicants creates even a modest level of deflation in the observed resume evaluation scores for minority group applicants, the selection rate for minority group applicants is expected to be meaningfully lower compared to the selection rate for majority group applicants, increasing the likelihood of adverse impact. These findings demonstrate in clear practical terms the critical importance of fair resume evaluations for improving the legal defensibility of selection. Going beyond the simple understanding that bias against minority group applicants in resume screening leads to lower diversity, the current study contributes to the previous literature by clearly outlining the expected effect that varying levels of discriminatory resume evaluation have on the practical outcomes of selection. Moreover, we illustrate these results under a realistic set of conditions implied from the personnel selection literature and meta-analyses of variables relevant to personnel selection.

Suggested Citation

  • Jisoo Ock, 2022. "The Practical Impact of Bias against Minority Group Applicants in Resume Screening on Personnel Selection Outcomes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-11, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9438-:d:877861
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9438/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9438/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9438-:d:877861. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.