Unfair discrimination in the employment interview: Legal and psychological aspects.

Abstract

The psychological and legal literature concerning evidence of bias or unfairness in the employment interview with regard to blacks, females, handicapped persons, and the elderly is reviewed. This review indicates that (a) the interview is highly vulnerable to legal attack and one can expect more future litigation in this area; (b) the mechanisms and processes that contribute to bias in the interview are not well specified by researchers; (c) findings based predominantly on resume research show that females tend to receive lower evaluations than males, but this varies as a function of job and other situational characteristics; (d) little evidence exists to confirm the notion that blacks are evaluated unfairly in interview contexts; (e) a relative dearth of research exists investigating interview bias against the elderly and handicapped individuals; and (f) evidence concerning the differential validity of the interview for these minority and nonminority groups is virtually nonexistent. A number of research needs and directions are specified. Despite research that indicates that the employment interview has limited reliability and validity (Mayfield, 1964; Ulrich & Trumbo, 1965; Wright, 1969), organizational use of the interview in helping to make selection and promotion decisions persists. The statement of Dunnette and Bass (1963) that the personnel interview is the most widely used method of selecting employees still holds true today, In fact, there is some speculation that the employment interview may be gaining in popularity because of increased court and legal pressures brought to bear on employers' pencil-and-paper testing practices. In view of the increased likelihood of their employment tests' being subjected to legal scrutiny, employers are dropping the use of tests and placing even more