Assessing the fairness of hiring decisions using the vignette technique

Abstract

This paper examines the principles that guide judgments made by the general population and by a variety of subgroups on the fairness of hiring decisions. We rely on the classical distributive or social justice approach and explore the role of need and contribution in the judgment process. We expand this perspective by analysing the influence of socio-demographic factors in the judgment process. The paper contributes to the empirical literature on social justice by investigating the perceived fairness of the different situations in which applicants for a job are hired. Results are based on a large-scale survey with a representative sample of inhabitants of Flanders aged between 25 and 70 years. Respondents were asked to rate the fairness of the decision to hire an applicant for a job using the vignette or factorial survey design, a technique developed by Rossi and Anderson (1982) to capture the principles underlying social judgments. The vignettes manipulated the following characteristics of job applicants: performance and proficiency in Dutch (merit), having a (working) partner and having children (need), gender, ethnic background and age.