Race and Ethnicity Impact Recruiting, Turnover
Journal of Labor Economics, October 2009
Available
online (abstract)
According a study from the University of Miami School of Business Administration White, Asian and Hispanic managers tend to hire more whites and fewer blacks than black managers do.
Researchers compiled two years of data from a large U.S. retail chain, and found that when a black manager in a typical store is replaced by a white, Asian or Hispanic manager, the share of newly hired blacks falls from 21 to 17 percent, and the share of whites hired rises from 60 to 64 percent.
Study organizers found that the effect is even more prevalent for stores located in the South, where the replacement of a black manager causes the share of newly hired blacks to fall from 29 to 21 percent. While in places with large Hispanic populations, Hispanics hire more Hispanics and fewer whites than white managers.
The finding is clear evidence that the race or ethnicity of those who make hiring decisions can have a strong impact in the racial makeup of a company's workforce. For instance if the store is located in the Southern U.S., based on the study data, replacing a black manager with a non-black manager would result in the replacement of three to four black workers with white workers over the course of one year.
The effect in a non-Southern store would also be significant, if a bit more subtle. Replacing a black manager in a non-Southern store would result in one black worker being replaced by a white worker over a year.
The importance of this study is directly correlated to the aims human resources and organization sociologists would find helpful in the workplace. Study authors were able to isolate the race factor by tracking individual stores that experienced a change of manager.
Researchers also found that both black and non-black managers tend to hire people who live close to them. So if black managers live in predominantly black neighborhoods, their hiring network is also likely to be predominantly black.
Analysis of study data also suggests that black managers hire fewer whites because whites may be less willing to work for black managers. Further revelations the study shed light on is that when a white manager is replaced with a black manager, the rate at which white workers quit their jobs increases by 15 percent.
