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The Impact of Language in Job Advertising on Fair Practices in Hiring: A Research Note
Author(s) -
Costello Ellen M.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1979.tb00806.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , action (physics) , control (management) , advertising , management , business , economics , physics , quantum mechanics
This experiment investigated the effects of sex‐biased language in job advertisements on subjects' reported interest in applying for the advertised positions. Booklets containing 12 advertisments, 4 experimental and 8 control, were distributed to 176 high school seniors. The four experimental advertisements varied across three experimental conditions: sex‐biased, sex‐unbiased, and sex‐reversed. Results of X 2 analyses indicate that significantly more subjects express interest in applying for stereotypically “opposite sex” jobs in the sex‐reversed condition than in the sex‐biased condition. These findings support previous research by Bem and Bem (1973) and have implications for affirmative action programs.