Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: doi:10.22028/D291-33040
Title: Executive Search Consultants' Biases Against Women (or Men?)
Author(s): Siegel, Rudolf
König, Cornelius J.
Zobel, Yannik
Language: English
Title: Frontiers in Psychology
Volume: 11
Publisher/Platform: Frontiers
Year of Publication: 2020
Free key words: headhunting
executive search
sex discrimination
own-gender bias
implicit measure
DDC notations: 150 Psychology
Publikation type: Journal Article
Abstract: Women remain under-represented in leadership positions in many countries. Since executive search consultants (also known as headhunters) act as gatekeepers in the hiring process, headhunters' biases might influence the female under-representation. There is preliminary evidence that suggests headhunters favor men, but direct evidence is missing. Thus, this study directly tested this assumption using implicit and explicit measures (an implicit association test and a gender role attitudes survey), completed by 123 German executive search consultants. Although neither measure showed an anti-women bias (with the explicit measure being compared to a match sample from a representative survey using propensity score matching), the implicit association test showed an in-group bias (i.e., male headhunter had a stronger association of men and competence than of women and competence). The latter is worrisome because the majority of consultants in this business are men. Thus, organizations interested in more female managers need to carefully consider who they hire as their executive search consultants.
DOI of the first publication: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.541766
Link to this record: urn:nbn:de:bsz:291--ds-330406
hdl:20.500.11880/30361
http://dx.doi.org/10.22028/D291-33040
ISSN: 1664-1078
Date of registration: 11-Jan-2021
Faculty: HW - Fakultät für Empirische Humanwissenschaften und Wirtschaftswissenschaft
Department: HW - Psychologie
Professorship: HW - Prof. Dr. Cornelius König
Collections:SciDok - Der Wissenschaftsserver der Universität des Saarlandes

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