Keywords

diversity, experiment, field experiment, gender, race

Abstract

While many firms have set ambitious goals to increase diversity in their ranks, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on effective ways to reach them. We use a natural field experiment to test several hypotheses on effective means to attract minority candidates for top professional careers. By randomly varying the content in recruiting materials of a major financial services corporation with more than 10,000 employees, we find that signaling explicit interest in employee diversity more than doubles the interest in openings among racial minority candidates, as well as the likelihood that they apply and are selected. Impacts on gender diversity are less sharp and generally not significant.

Original Publication Citation

“Increasing workplace diversity: Evidence from a recruiting experiment at a Fortune-500 company” (with Jeffrey Flory, Andreas Leibbrandt, and Christina Rott). Journal of Human Resources, 56:1, 73-92,2021.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2021

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/8528

Publisher

University of Wisconsin Press

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Economics

University Standing at Time of Publication

Assistant Professor

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Included in

Economics Commons

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