SEX BIAS IN JOB EVALUATION PROCEDURES

Issues pertaining to possible sex bias in job evaluation procedures are outlined and relevant research pertaining to these issues reviewed. Attention is given to possible sex bias in job analysis procedures, choice and weighting of factors, reliability and validity issues, and other concerns. Future research needs are discussed, with particular attention being paid to the reliability and validity aspects of job evaluation instruments.     

SEX DISCRIMINATION IN HIRING: THE INFLUENCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE AND NEED FOR APPROVAL ON DECISION MAKING BEHAVIOR

It was hypothesized that an organization's climate could inhibit or encourage discriminatory behavior, and that subjects' need for approval would interact with climate to influence their decisions. One hundred and sixty-one male business students read one of two sets of materials intended to manipulate company climate, and then evaluated a fictitious resume of a male or female applicant for a managerial position within the company. Decisions regarding hire, salary, applicant fit with the company, and anticipated longevity were dependent measures. The hypothesis regarding organizational climate received partial support. In a discriminatory climate women applicants were evaluated less favorably than men in terms of likelihood of hire and degree of fit between the applicant and the organization. Although not statistically significant, a similar pattern of results was obtained on the salary measure and on the measure of applicant predicted longevity. Contrary to expectations, approval motivation was not related to the dependent measures.     

A PROMISING MEASURE OF SEX BIAS: THE INCIDENTAL MEMORY TASK

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether differences in counselors' retention of information about a female and a male client in a previous study would also be obtained with a non-counselor sample. Two hundred eighteen undergraduate students participated in the present study. The findings indicated similarity between the under-graduates and counselors on measures of retention and question generation. In findings similar to those of the previous study, participants in this study retained less information under the female client conditions, p < .01, a result that indicates a possible negative valuation of female client concerns. The implication of the findings for counselor training is discussed; in particular, the findings support the utility of free-response measures for assessing sex role stereotyping.     

THE NEW UNIFORM GUIDELINES ON EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES IN THE CONTEXT OF UNIVERSITY PERSONNEL DECISIONS

The new Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures are considered in a context of university employment decisions. The use of student evaluations as valid criteria for faculty personnel decisions such as hiring, retention, tenure, promotion, or salary increases is examined. Standards of validity contained in the Guidelines are probably not being met with regard to most student rating forms currently used. Recommendations are made regarding use of student and administrators' ratings as criteria for personnel decisions. The need for studies on contaminating sources of variance in ratings is emphasized.     

APPLICANT AGE AND SELECTION INTERVIEW DECISIONS: EFFECT OF INFORMATION EXPOSURE ON AGE DISCRIMINATION IN PERSONNEL SELECTION

Two research questions pertaining to the applicant age bias effect were addressed in this study: the effect of age-related information exposure on selection decisions and the issue of between-sample generalizability with reference to the age bias effect. Manager and student selectors made selection decisions after viewing one videotape of a simulated selection interview of either an old or a young job applicant. Before viewing the interview tape, half of each subject group was given an item of age-related information and the other half was given neutral information. The results showed that, under the neutral information condition, managers preferred hiring the young applicant for the low-status job, and students favored the old candidate for the high-status position. Under the age-related information condition, managers shifted to favoring the old candidate for the low-status job, and students preferred the young applicant for both the low- and high-status positions. Age discrimination in selection decisions and the lack of external validity of student results in selection research are then discussed.     

CORRECTING THE 16PF FOR FAKING: EFFECTS ON CRITERION-RELATED VALIDITY AND INDIVIDUAL HIRING DECISIONS

The effects of correcting a personality measure for faking were evaluated within an organizational context. Two possible repercussions of score correction were studied using the 16PF personality inventory: the effect on criterion-related validity and the effect on individual hiring decisions (i.e., which applicants would or would not be hired). Results indicated that correction for faking had little effect on criterion-related validity. However, depending on the selection ratio, correction of scores would have resulted in different hiring decisions than those that would have been made on the basis of uncorrected scores. Implications for organizations using personality measures for selection and recommendations regarding the use of faking corrections are discussed.     

SOCIAL COMMUNICATIVE ANXIETY AND THE PERSONNEL SELECTION PROCESS: TESTING THE SIMILARITY EFFECT IN SELECTION DECISIONS

Three studies tested competing predictions about the role of similarity in personnel selection decisions. Previous research suggests a significant role for applicant-selector similarity in the determination of selection decisions. Applicants who are similar to selectors are evaluated, by selectors, more positively than dissimilar applicants. The current investigations found that when the object of similarity is the applicant's and selector's level of anxiety, this relationship fails to appear. Regardless of the selector's own level of anxiety, the high anxious applicant is less positively evaluated than the low anxious one. This effect appears even when the communication demands of the position are specified.     

SEX-LINKED BIAS IN PROMOTION DECISIONS: The Role of Candidate's Career Relevance and Respondent's Prior Experience

To investigate the idea that information about relevant career experience has an effect on the degree of sex bias in promotion decisions, an analogue study was conducted in which sex of candidate and relevance of prior jobs were varied. The effect of respondent's experience of subordinacy to a female manager was also investigated. A within-subject design was used with two response formats, ranking and rating. As predicted, relevance of career experience was a primary consideration in the promotion decision. Respondents who had worked in the past under a female manager showed a profemale bias in choosing among candidates with relevant career experience. No sex-linked bias was identified in the treatment of the candidates with irrelevant prior experience. Additional results suggested that the ranking format was more sensitive to the effect of sex-linked bias than was the rating format.     

EMPLOYMENT DECISIONS MADE BY MOTHERS OF INFANTS

This study was designed to contribute to our understanding of employment-related behavior in women with infants by assessing how individual characteristics and perceptions of infant needs are associated with decisions about employment. Utilizing a longitudinal approach, data were collected on 172 mothers at infant birth and at 3, 8, and 12 months of infant's age. Four study groups were formed, based on mothers' early plans to work and actual work status later in the infant's first year. Groups were compared, and findings about decisions to work or stay home were interpreted in light of maternal demographic and personality attributes, and maternal perceptions of infant needs and characteristics.     

THE CONTROL OF BIAS IN RATINGS: A THEORY OF RATING

Based on several years of research and a careful analysis of the rating process Wherry developed a theory of rating. An accurate rating is seen as being a function of three major components: Performance of the ratee, observation of that performance by the rater, and the recall of those observations by the rater. Cast in a mold of classical psychometric theory each of these components is seen as consisting of a systematic portion and a random portion. The systematic portion of each component is further broken down. The performance of the ratee is a combination of true ability or aptitude for the job and the influence of the environment. What the rater observes is a function the performance of the ratee and bias of observation and what the rater recalls is a result of those observations combined with a bias of recall. The development of the theory of rating unfolds by defining the various factors that affect each of these components in a series of linear equations. Various theorems and corollaries are proposed which should lead to a maximization of the true ability component of the ratee and minimize environmental influence and the bias and error components. The theorems and corollaries suggest testable hypotheses for the researcher in performance evaluation.     

MASCULINE BIAS IN THE ATTRIBUTION OF PERSONHOOD

Silveira (1980) noted that not just masculine generics, but also neutral terms, have masculine connotations; she called this the "people = male" bias. Her hypothesis takes two forms: people = male, a male is more likely seen as a person than is a female; and male = people, a person is more likely believed to be male than female. A total of 108 female and 91 male college students participated in three studies. Study 1 tested male = people. Participants referring back to a female or male protagonist as a woman/man or as a person were significantly more likely to refer to the male with a nongender-specific term. Studies 2 and 3 tested people = male. In Study 2, reanalysis of data from Hamilton and Henley (1982) showed that hearing unbiased generics promoted male-biased mental imagery in men. In Study 3, participants'imagined "typical person" was significantly more likely to be male than female.     

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AND TERMINATIONS: A REVIEW OF COURT DECISIONS SINCE BRITO V. ZIA WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR PERSONNEL PRACTICES

Court cases since the classic Brito v. Zia (1973) decision dealing with terminations based on subjective performance appraisals are reviewed. Professional interpretations of Brito v. Zia are also examined and criticized in light of professional practice and subsequent court decisions. Major themes and issues are distilled from the review of cases, and implications and recommendations for personnel practices were discussed.     

MODELING THE EFFECTS OF BANDING IN PERSONNEL SELECTION

Selection outcomes under banding are affected by characteristics of the selection system and the applicant pool. This study examined the effects of eight parameters on the proportions hired from higher- and lower-scoring groups: (a) selection ratio; (b) reliability; (b) fixed vs. sliding bands; (d) top-down vs. random within-band selection; (e) preferential vs. nonpreferential selection; (f) mean differences; (g) standard deviation differences; and (h) proportion of applicants from the lower-scoring group. Simulation results were analyzed in a fully-crossed eight-way ANOVA. Higher-order interactions among selection system and applicant pool characteristics had virtually no effect on selection outcomes; the proportion of the applicant pool from the lower-scoring group accounted for nearly half the variance in out-comes. Other important effects are, in order, the effects of standard deviation differences, mean differences, preferential hiring, and the selection ratio. Applicant pool characteristics have considerably more influence on selection outcomes than do selection system characteristics.     

ASSESSMENT OF SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR MAINTAINED BY ACCESS TO SELF-RESTRAINT MATERIALS

This study replicates and extends prior research showing that access to self-restraint materials can reinforce self-injurious behavior (SIB). A functional analysis was conducted showing that SIB occurred at differentially high rates when access to restraint materials (a leather jacket) was made contingent on the behavior. In addition, an alone condition during the functional analysis showed that SIB did not occur in the absence of restraint materials. Finally, a treatment analysis showed that functional communication training was effective using an alternative reinforcer.