Counterproductive hiring discrimination against women: Evidence from a French correspondence test
Abstract
Purpose
Mentioning car and motorcycle licences on a resume sends a signal of strong mobility, which should increase the chances of getting a job in congested traffic areas. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether this is the case for both women and men.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors implement an experimental design in order to test for the existence of gender discrimination. The authors use the first-order stochastic dominance (FOSD) criterion and estimate components models.
Findings
The authors find that holding a motorcycle licence leads to a counterproductive selection of female candidates, since the highest commuting mobility meets the lowest hiring rate.
Research limitations/implications
The methodology developed in the paper can be used for all correspondence test data.
Originality/value
The authors examine effects that have not been observed thus far in the literature, namely, the effects of gender crossed with the effects of the class of driving licence that is mentioned on the resume. The authors also advocate the use of the FOSD criterion to discrimination studies.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was conducted with support from the Agence nationale pour la cohésion sociale et l'égalité des chances. The authors thank participants at the GAINS seminar (Université du Maine), EPEE seminar (Université Paris-Saclay UEVE), the annual conference of the French Economic Association and several anonymous referees for their useful suggestions and comments.
Citation
Duguet, E., du Parquet, L., L’Horty, Y. and Petit, P. (2018), "Counterproductive hiring discrimination against women: Evidence from a French correspondence test", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 37-50. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-01-2016-0004
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited