Political bias in hiring : people consider political opponents as less hireable than others without weighting criteria to justify why

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that characteristics like gender and ethnicity can affect the possibility to be hired. Decisions in hiring may also be justified by weighting the importance of hiring criteria and can thus seem unbiased. In other areas, bias due to political affiliation have been noted to be even more pronounced than bias due to ethnicity. However, effects of candidates’ political affiliation in hiring are not equally researched. This study aimed to fill this blank. Participants (N= 283) were randomized to a between-subjects design; A third read a resumé from a candidate affiliating with the The Left Party, a third read a resumé from a candidate affiliating with The Sweden Democrats, a party at the right end of the spectrum, and a third read a resumé from a candidate with no political affiliation. After reading the resumés, participants evaluated the hireability of their candidate. They also stated which hiring criteria, experience or education, was considered most important in this evaluation. Results showed that participants evaluated candidates with divergent political affiliation from the own as less hireable than candidates with unknown political affiliation, or a politicalaffiliation more similar to the own. Cues of political affiliation may thus be a disadvantage for an individual, applying for a job. However, biased evaluations were not justified to seem unbiased by weighting criteria. It is suggested that social norms do not imply hiding political bias to the same degree as bias due to for example gender or ethnicity.