Selecting job applicants: Effects from gender, self-presentation, and decision type

We report on an experiment that utilizes an application-files design to recreate several features of a hiring decision for junior-engineer positions. The critical situation under study involved an assessor (either male or female) and a male and a female candidate with highly similar professional qualifications but different self-presentation styles. We investigate effects from sex category of assessor, sex category and self-presentation of pair of candidates, and type of assessment decision (namely, choice between the two applicants, and ratings of their competence and suitability). Our hypotheses consider both gender as status and as social identity, and predict different outcomes depending on assessment decision. We found no evidence of bias against the female applicant. The question about competence elicited effects from self-presentation only, from both men and women; the choice of applicant and suitability measures show no bias against the female candidate by men and a bias in her favor by women.