Unintended consequences of transparency during personnel selection: A case of stereotype threat

• Applicant: Professorin Ute-Christine Klehe, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: from 2014 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 263071181

Fairness considerations often motivate practitioners and scientists alike to run their selection tools transparently, i.e. to inform applicants about the dimensions measured during personnel selection. The proposed research challenges this assumption, arguing that transparency can function as a subtle cue that fosters stereotype threat and thus selectively impairs performance, depending on the stereotypical fit between the dimension revealed and the candidates´ social group. More precisely, we propose that transparency during personnel selection may well enhance performance when candidates learn about a dimension that is associated with no or with a positive stereotype about these candidates´ social group. However, the same transparency may actually impair candidates´ performance when the dimension made transparent is associated with a negative stereotype about the candidates´ social group (e.g., when women are informed that a selection procedure will assess their leadership skills or when men are informed that a procedure is to assess their empathy). Additionally, the proposed research aims to study a concise model of affective, behavioral and cognitive mediators proposed in the stereotype threat literature. Conceptually, this is the first research known to us that translates critical findings from the social psychological literature on stereotype threat to the case of transparency during personnel selection. The proposed research will encompass three studies, each of which addresses another type of frequently used selection procedure, namely interviews (Study 1), assessment center tasks (Study 2), and situational judgment tests (Study 3). Interviews represent the most frequently used selection procedure in practice, yet being a low-fidelity setting, applicants going through an interview do not have to show actual behavior, but only need to report past or hypothetical behavior. Assessment centers, in contrast, encompass high-fidelity simulations, where the effects of a potential stereotype threat may show in applicants´ actual behavior. The last study aims to replicate findings in the context of an actual selection procedure with real job applicants. Results will be relevant for both the literatures on personnel selection - and particularly the case of transparency during personnel selection - and the literature on stereotype threat.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants