A Meta-Analysis of Accent Bias in Employee Interviews: The Effects of Gender and Accent Stereotypes, Interview Modality, and Other Moderating Features

Abstract

To address concerns of subtle discrimination against stigmatized groups, we meta-analyze the magnitude and moderators of bias against non-standard accents in employment interview evaluations. Results from a multi-level random-effects meta-analysis (unique effects: k = 41, N = 7,596; multi-level effects accounting for dependencies: k = 120, N = 20,873) demonstrate that standard-accented (SA) interviewees are consistently favored over non-standard-accented (NSA) interviewees (d = 0.46). Accent bias is stronger against women compared to men, particularly when evaluator samples are predominantly female, and was strongly predicted by interviewers' stereotypes of NSA interviewees as less competent and, to a lesser extent, as less warm. Accent bias was not significantly impacted by perceptions of comprehensibility, accentedness, accent type, interview modality, study rigor, or job speaking skill requirements.