The effects of gender and marital status on simulated hiring decisions.

Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and upper-year business students (N = 89) evaluated applications for an upper-level management position. A 2 x 2 (applicant gender X marital status) between subjects design was used to examine the effects of the independent variables on a variety of work-related dimensions. Rather than having an overall consistent effect on the participants\u27 evaluations of the applicants, gender and marital status affected distinct work-related variables. Gender influenced measures of work habits (favoring females over males) while marital status influenced measures of emotional stability (favoring married applicants over single applicants) and organizational commitment (favoring single applicants over married applicants). These results suggest that, if possible, applicants should not draw attention to, or include information about their gender or marital status.Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2003 .A73. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 42-03, page: 1067. Adviser: Ken Cramer. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2003