An Investigation of Race and Sex Similarity Effects in Interviews: A Multilevel Approach to Relational Demography

• Published in: Journal of applied psychology 2003-10, Vol.88 (5), p.852-865
• Main Authors: Sacco, Joshua M, Scheu, Christine R, Marie Ryan, Ann, Schmitt, Neal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; African Americans - psychology; Asian Americans - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Demographics; Demography; Discrimination; European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Higher education; Hispanic Americans - psychology; Human; Human Sex Differences; Humans; Interviewers; Interviews; Interviews as Topic; Job Applicant Interviews; Job Applicants; Job Application; Male; Occupational psychology; Orientation. Selection. Evaluation; Personnel Recruitment; Personnel Selection; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Race; Racial and Ethnic Differences; Recruitment; Sex; Sex Factors; Sexism; Social psychology; Studies; Universities
• ISSN: 0021-9010; 1939-1854
• DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.852

This research studied the effects of race and sex similarity on ratings in one-on-one highly structured college recruiting interviews ( N = 708 interviewers and 12,203 applicants for 7 different job families). A series of hierarchical linear models provided no evidence for similarity effects, although the commonly used D- score and analysis-of-variance-based interaction approaches conducted at the individual level of analysis yielded different results. The disparate results demonstrate the importance of attending to nested data structures and levels of analysis issues more broadly. Practically, the results suggest that organizations using carefully administered highly structured interviews may not need to be concerned about bias due to the mismatch between interviewer and applicant race or sex.