Immigrant stereotypes and differential screening
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-06-2018-0229 |
| Date | 13 November 2019 |
| Published date | 13 November 2019 |
| Pages | 921-938 |
| Author | Jason R. Lambert,Ekundayo Y. Akinlade |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Immigrant stereotypes and
differential screening
Jason R. Lambert
College of Business, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas, USA, and
Ekundayo Y. Akinlade
Department of Economics, Business, and Finance,
Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois, USA
Abstract
Purpose –There has been an increasing number of allegations of discrimination toward US employees and
anecdotal indications of immigrant employee exploitation in the information technology sector. The purpose
of this paper is to investigate if applicants’work visa status causes native-born applicants to be treated
differentially (less favorably) than foreign-born applicants.
Design/methodology/approach –A correspondence study design is used to observe differential screening
processes by measuring the frequency of favorable job application responses received by foreign-born
applicants compared to equally skilled native-born applicants.
Findings –Results from the study suggest that fictitious Asian foreign-born applicants who demonstrate the
need for H-1B work visa sponsorship for employment receive significantly more favorable e-mail responses to
job ads than US native-born applicants. Moreover, white native-born applicants are approximately 23 percent
less likely than Asian foreign-born applicants to receive a request for an interview.
Research limitations/implications –Because of the chosen method, the research results may lack
generalizability. The hypotheses should be tested further by targeting more geographical locations, a variety
of industries and using qualitative methods in future research.
Practical implications –The paper includes implications for hiring managers who wish to reduce their
liability for employment discrimination and foreign-born job seekers wishing to manage their expectations of
the recruitment process.
Originality/value –This paper fulfills an identified need to empirically study how the work visa status of
job seekers affects early recruitment as increasingly more anecdotal evidence of immigrant exploitation and
discrimination in the technology sector is reported.
Keywords Discrimination, Quantitative, Immigration, Exploitation, Recruitment and selection,
Foreign-born workers, Work visas
Paper type Research paper
The percentage of immigrants in the US workforce has gradually increased over the last
decade (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016), and in both 2017 and 2018, a record was set for
reaching the US cap of 65,000 H-1B visas within four days for the following fiscal year
(Trautwein, 2017; USCIS, 2017, 2018). Perspectives on the outcomes of immigrants in the
workplace, however, point in somewhat contradictory directions. Influential theoretical
models of employment discrimination suggest that immigrants, like other ethnic minorities,
will obtain subpar outcomes in the labor market (Dietz et al., 2015; Galarneau and
Morissette, 2004; Hakak and Al Ariss, 2013). Yet, the idea that immigrant workers displace
workers born in the USA (Bloomekatz, 2007; Khalid, 2017; Waldinger and Lichter, 2003) has
gained traction in the media. H-1 B visas are used by employers to attract foreign-born
workers in industries where skilled labor is scarce (Baum and Kabst, 2013; Lambert et al.,
2019). Foreign-born workers who are not US citizens also need them to work and live in the
USA legally (US Department of State, 2014). Current events from the media suggest that this
Personnel Review
Vol. 49 No. 4, 2020
pp. 921-938
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-06-2018-0229
Received 25 June 2018
Revised 7 February 2019
Accepted 8 September 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
The authors would like to thank graduate assistant Merveille IlungaASul, and undergraduate
assistants Melton Brown and Ashley Willis for their arduous assistance with matching, tracking and
coding e-mail responses.
921
Immigrant
stereotypes
dependent relationship that foreign-born workers have toward their employers may be
unhealthy and create situations ripe for exploitation ( Jamieson, 2011; Wigglesworth, 2013).
Not surprising, the US Department of Justice (2017) recently issued a statement cautioning
employers seeking H-1B visas not to discriminate against US workers. These conflicting
perspectives about the outcomes of foreign-born workers in the workplace underscore the
complexity in the social perceptions of immigrants, which has received scant attention in the
past (Dietz et al., 2015).
Discrimination, whether against immigrants or native-born US workers, is problematic
from a human capital perspective as it involves the differential treatment of individuals
based on signals that are unrelated to job performance, undermining organizational
decisions. Consequently, an employer may not always succeed in hiring the most qualified
applicants (Bertrand and Mullainathan, 2004; Lee et al., 2015). As the “war”for talent
intensifies globally, skilled immigrants are becoming an increasingly important part of
Western labor forces (Dietz et al., 2015). To maintain a competitive edge, it is imperative that
organizations select the best talent, irrespective of national origin (Baum and Kabst, 2013).
Unfortunately, despite several calls (e.g. Bell et al., 2010; Binggeli et al., 2013; Dietz, 2010;
Hirschman, 1982; Pettigrew, 1998), research on immigrants in the workplace still remains
under-studied (Binggeli et al., 2013).
Theory from prior research contends that employers prefer immigrant workers due to
their exploitability (Bloomekatz, 2007; Moss and Tilly, 2001; Shih, 2002). The literature
offers different explanations as to why discrimination occurs, which could shed light on the
experience of immigrants in the workplace. The social psychology approach suggests that
employers rely on cues that trigger stereotypes about a minority group that influence
employment decisions. Theories of statistical discrimination offer an alternative approach,
suggesting that employers seek to maximize profit, and therefore prefer members of a
particular group that are likely to be more productive in the workplace (Zschirnt and
Ruedin, 2016). Following this logic, theory from prior research contends that employers
prefer immigrant workers because they are exploitable –more likely to accept lower wages,
work longer hours and complain less (Bloomekatz, 2007; Moss and Tilly, 2001; Shih, 2002).
Although understudied in the management discipline, the scant literature available focuses
on the effect and outcomes associated with labor exploitation after immigrant workers are
hired, such as lower wages, longer hours and differential treatment (Avery et al., 2010;
Bloomekatz, 2007), rather than what happens pre-hire during the recruitment and selection
process. Yet, previous studies indicate that the early stages of applicant screening, such as
résumé screening, are especially vulnerable to hiring discrimination due to the way
recruiters process information (Derous and Decoster, 2017; Derous et al., 2017). Further,
discrimination in organizations often begins with selection decisions (Lee et al., 2015). In this
study, we seek to investigate a more nuanced view of the pre-employment screening process
to see whether immigrants are indeed the victims of hiring discrimination (as suggested by
social psychological models) or if they are the recipients of preferential hiring (as suggested
by economic statistical models). As suggested by Binggeli et al. (2013), because of the
diversity among immigrants that could impact how they are perceived, we focused on a
specific immigrant group –Asians –and compared them to native-born Asians and white
Americans, as well as foreign-born whites. To the best of our knowledge, prior research has
not investigated this phenomenon, possibly in part because it is challenging to capture
evidence of what occurs during the early stages of the selection process, before there is any
physical contact between the employer and the job applicant (Powell and Goulet, 1996).
We propose a methodology that identifies whether employers show a preference for
foreign-born applicants and thereby discriminate against native-born Americans, or for
native-born Americans, discriminating against foreign-born applicants. First, we establish a
benchmark for hiring discrimination by examining if native-born Asian-American
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