Applications with ethnic names less likely to be considered for leadership, non-leadership roles
Jobseekers in Australia with ethnic names are less likely to be considered for a job when compared to their counterparts with English names, according to a new study.
The study, published in The Leadership Quarterly, found that jobseekers with ethnic names are 57.4% less likely to be considered for leadership roles.
"For leadership positions, applicants with English names received 26.8% of positive responses for their job applications, while applicants with non-English names received 11.3% of positive responses," the study said.
The findings were determined after the researchers submitted over 12,000 job applications to over 4,000 job advertisements in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane to investigate hiring discrimination for leadership positions.
The job applications were identical but carried varying names that belong to six ethnic groups in Australia.
The experiment found that for leadership roles, 26.8% of job applications received callbacks from recruiters. Applications with ethnic names, however, received fewer callbacks:
- Arabic names (9.7%)
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names (11.8%)
- Chinese names (10.3%)
- Greek names (14.3%)
- Indian names (10.8%)
"We further find that ethnic discrimination for leadership positions is particularly pronounced for jobs that require customer contact," the study said.
Non-leadership roles
Applicants with ethnic names were also 45.3% less likely to get considered for non-leadership roles, according to the study.
"For non-leadership positions, applicants with English names received 21.2% of positive responses for their job applications, while applicants with non-English names received 11.6% of positive responses," the study said.
Per ethnic name, the report found varying call-back rates:
- Arabic names (10%)
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names (12.4%)
- Chinese names (12.3%)
- Greek names (13.7%)
- Indian names (9.8%)
The report is the first ever to uncover the presence of name discrimination in recruitment for leadership positions - and the findings confirm its existence, according to the study.
"Understanding the different barriers that ethnic minorities face is a crucial first step in leveling the playing field," the study said.
"As we also observe that the height of this barrier systematically varies with job characteristics, we can predict in which environments ethnic minorities are most disadvantaged and can focus our efforts on addressing them accordingly."
