THE EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL REPUTATION AND COMMUNITY DEMOGRAPHICS ON APPLICANT POOL COMPOSITION AND ETHNIC GROUP TEST SCORE DIFFERENCES IN PUBLIC SAFETY SELECTION

Efforts to increase minority hiring rely on having a large pool of qualified minority candidates. The current study examined the effects of police department reputation (as reflected in news stories), workforce demographics, and community demographics (i.e., the proportion and segregation of minorities in the community) on minority representation among applicants to police jobs, as well as adverse impact on a police selection test. Only negative department reputation predicted test score, although it was not related to adverse impact. However, the size of group differences did vary significantly across police departments. Implications for future research and for practice are discussed.Ph.D. in Psychology, May 201