The organizational bases of discrimination

Grant description:

This project will continue an important empirical line of research that uses innovative field-based experimental methods to understand the dynamics of discrimination. The researchers will combine an audit study with a survey of employers. The audit data has significant advantages over past audit studies: It examines a broader range of job openings by using BurningGlass data; examines a larger number of employers and responses to applications; examines a broader range of cities; and examines race by gender and by parental status simultaneously. The researchers will survey employers, focusing on three main areas: personnel policies such as affirmative action, parental leave, and flex time; hiring practices such as the use of technology, referrals, and standardized interview protocols; and the demographics, size, number of locations, and age of the company. This research will directly test several outstanding questions in the literature, particularly the connection between formalization procedures and discrimination, the effectiveness of diversity initiatives, and the role of technology. This project’s findings will provide a more precise assessment of how organizations perpetuate gendered, racial, and parental-status discrimination.