Social dominance orientation and attitudes toward women: Modern hiring discrimination in the workplace

The focus of this study was to examine the glass ceiling phenomenon through an investigation of the psychology of hiring decisions. The primary contribution of this study was to examine hiring decisions to determine if discrimination towards females exists despite equal qualifications with their male counterparts. This study investigated the autonomous and combined effects of a hiring official's demographic characteristics, attitudes towards women (ATW), and social dominance orientation (SDO) as possible predictors of hiring decisions when all applicant qualifications were identical with the exception of gender. All of the variables showed no impact on hiring decisions, with the exception of attitudes towards women. Results indicated that participants who selected the female applicant had a relatively higher ATW score than those who selected the male applicant. These findings suggest that those reporting more positive attitudes towards women were more inclined to select the female applicant, whereas, those with more negative attitudes towards women were more inclined to select the male applicant. Not only might attitudes towards women contribute to unfair hiring decisions against women, but these attitudes also contribute to unfair hiring decisions against men. This study also found that both men and women were more likely to hire a female applicant than a male applicant with an identical record. Hence, this study may indicate the existence of hiring discrimination towards men, despite their equal qualifications with their female counterparts. In addition, hiring officials can and do discriminate against members of the same gender. Such findings suggest that there are instances in which men are the victims of gender discrimination. Overall results indicated that when combined, the hiring official's demographic characteristics, attitudes towards women, and social dominance orientation were not related to hiring decisions. The researcher confirmed a relationship between social dominance orientation and attitudes towards women, wherein respondents with a relatively higher ATW score had a lower SDO score. These findings indicated that those reporting more negative attitudes towards women had a higher social dominance orientation, whereas, those with more positive attitudes towards women had a lower social dominance orientation.