Marijuana Use and Perceptions of Employment Suitability

Abstract

Abstract. The present study extends research on marijuana social acceptance and employment suitability in the United States by examining how hiring managers view substance use-related content in social networking profiles. Specifically, this research focused on the weight hiring managers placed on social networking posts containing recreational marijuana content, medicinal marijuana content, and alcohol content when assessing potential candidates. With a sample of 405 hiring managers who evaluated experimentally manipulated social networking profiles, the results demonstrated a modest negative hiring bias against recreational marijuana content, with stronger negative effects for alcohol content. At the same time, social networking content related to medicinal marijuana content did not have a significant effect on perceptions of employment suitability. These findings highlight the nuanced nature of substance use stigma in today’s evolving society.