The application of factorial surveys to study recruiters’ hiring intentions: Comparing designs based on hypothetical and real vacancies

Presentation (2020, September 22)

Perceptions of Society’s Necessary Standard of Living: Are Perceptions Determined by What People Have, or Do They Reflect a Social Consensus?

in Social Indicators Research (2020)

Analyses of material deprivation usually use lists of goods and activities to assess an individual’s possessions and to compare it with the society’s standard of living. If the number of possessions falls ... [more ▼]

Analyses of material deprivation usually use lists of goods and activities to assess an individual’s possessions and to compare it with the society’s standard of living. If the number of possessions falls below a certain threshold, the individual is assumed to be materially deprived. Also state-guaranteed minimum income payments are often based on a basket of goods, which are assumed to represent a minimal living standard in the respective society. However, this approach rests on the assumption that a social consensus exists about what constitutes society’s necessary standard of living, which has never been tested in a theoretically and methodologically sound way. Our paper provides a model of the main determinants of standard of living perceptions in the public, develops a measurement model for a survey of necessary items, and tests whether these perceptions are expressions of a consensual normative standard or reflections of the respondent’s idiosyncratic individual living situation. We have used two waves of the GESIS Panel in 2016 to survey the current opinions about the necessary standard of living in the German population. Estimating cross-lagged auto-correlated structural equation models, we find that necessity evaluations are quite homogeneous across social groups but are influenced by individuals’ possessions, which vary within society and hence, challenge the social consensus assumption. Moreover, instead of using only the most necessary items, survey instruments should include both necessary and less necessary items to reflect the whole distribution of possible standard of living perceptions. Our results further suggest that analyses using single items should be avoided due to possible measurement errors. [less ▲]

Employers’ hiring decisions in relation to young people in Luxembourg (EDYPOLU). Short report

Report (2019)

In this report, we present a selection of preliminary descriptive results from the EDYPOLU research project funded by the University of Luxembourg (2017-2020). The research project examines the labour ... [more ▼]

In this report, we present a selection of preliminary descriptive results from the EDYPOLU research project funded by the University of Luxembourg (2017-2020). The research project examines the labour market for young people in Luxembourg with an interest in operational staffing needs, general human resource requirements and selection processes of recruiters. The main objective of the project is to identify possible obstacles for a successful entry into the labor market for young job seekers in Luxembourg by studying the general mechanisms in recruiters’ evaluation of young job candidates. To this end, we conducted an online survey among recruiters working in different occupational fields in Luxembourg between November 2018 and January 2019. A pilot study was conducted in spring 2018. The EDYPOLU recruiter survey builds on the Horizon 2020 project NEGOTIATE (https://negotiate-research.eu/). In the context of NEGOTIATE, a recruiter survey was conducted in four countries: Bulgaria, Greece, Norway, and Switzerland. EDYPOLU surveys a number of topics that have also been examined in NEGOTIATE. This makes it possible to draw some comparisons between the results of both studies. [less ▲]

The Gendered Consequences of Experiencing Unemployment: A Cross-Country Factorial Survey Among Recruiters

Presentation (2019, March 27)

Unemployment Scarring and Gendered Occupations: Evidence from a Cross-Country Factorial Survey

Presentation (2019, January 18)

The experience of early unemployment has been linked to a wide range of subsequent outcomes such as lower levels of well-being, lower wages and a host of other disadvantages in the labor market ... [more ▼]

The experience of early unemployment has been linked to a wide range of subsequent outcomes such as lower levels of well-being, lower wages and a host of other disadvantages in the labor market ("unemployment scarring"). As youth unemployment continues to be one of the main challenges of our time, it is important to anlayse the determinants affecting transitions to employment for young individuals. Empirical evidence from recent experimental studies emphasizes the long-neglected role of recruiters in the reintegration of individuals into the labor market. However, these studies rarely address potential gender differences in unemployment scarring by employing experimental designs that do not allow for extensive gender comparisons - potentially leaving important mechanisms behind recruiters' role in the reproduction of gender inequalities widely unexplored. Moreover, these studies differ in the context in which they were conducted making it difficult to draw conclusions regarding the extent to which unemployment might have different consequences for men and women. We extend the previous literature by examining how unemployment and gender interactively shape recruiters' evaluation of young applicants' hiring chances. Speci fically, we aim at addressing the shortcomings of previous research by comparing the hiring chances for young male and female jobseekers between different occupations and national contexts. Drawing on established labor market theories and social psychological theories about gendered role expectations and their impact on the evaluation of behavior ("role congruity theory"), we expect to find differences in unemployment scarring across gender. In particular, we expect that the gendered stereotypes associated with certain occupations affect recruiters' evaluation of unemployment for men and women. Recruiters might use unemployment as justifi cation to discriminate against workers when applying for gender-atypical jobs (e.g. women applying for traditionally and culturally male-typed jobs). On the other hand, recruiters might apply a more lenient standard towards the opposite-sex unemployed worker in order to overcompensate for the low share of e.g. women in male-typed jobs. To test our hypotheses, we use data from a large-scale factorial survey experiment among recruiters in four European countries and different occupational sectors. We focus on a male-typed and a female-typed occupational sector (mechanics and nursing, respectively) to explore the workings of gendered stereotypes. The multifactorial experimental design of the factorial survey allows us to compare different types of unemployment (timing and duration) and to hold unemployment orthogonal to other factors (e.g. education). Employing linear multilevel regression models, we fi nd, overall, heterogeneous scarring effects of unemployment across gender. Especially current unemployment spells seem to negatively affect the hiring chances for men applying for nursing jobs. Our preliminary findings constitute new evidence on gender differences in scarring due to unemployment. Moreover, they demonstrate that ignoring contextual factors in studying heterogeneous scarring effects across gender potentially leaves important mechanisms in recruiters' hiring decisions undetected. This study further contributes to the literature on transitions to employment as well as on gender inequalities in the labor market more generally by studying the demand-side mechanisms leading recruiters to discriminate against men and women in gendered-occupations. [less ▲]

Scarring Due to Unemployment by Gender: Evidence from a Cross-Country Factorial Survey

Presentation (2018, September 07)

The allocation of individuals to occupations is a main mechanism of social reproduction and social stratification. Many studies elucidated the individual antecedents and consequences of this process. An ... [more ▼]

The allocation of individuals to occupations is a main mechanism of social reproduction and social stratification. Many studies elucidated the individual antecedents and consequences of this process. An interest has often been in how social origin moderates the transition from education to employment. However, empirical evidence on the role of recruiters in this fundamental social process is scarce. Against this backdrop, we examine how these gatekeepers evaluate hiring chances of young job applicants. In our contribution, we specifically focus on scarring due to unemployment in the health sector. Drawing on human capital theory and signalling theory, we expect variation in the hiring chances of male vs. female job seekers with respect to the length of previous and current unemployment spells. Using data from a recent large-scale factorial survey of recruiters in four European countries (N ≈ 2,000) and employing multilevel linear regression models, we find, overall, evidence for heterogeneous scarring effects. Young male job applicants who were unemployed received less favourable assessments compared to their female counterparts. Having been unemployed or being currently unemployed was not associated with hiring chances in young females. Our preliminary findings constitute new evidence on gender differences in scarring due to unemployment. They further contribute to the literature on transitions to employment. [less ▲]