Exploring Bias in Evaluation of Job Seeker Introductory Emails

Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Dec 2023

Exploring Bias in Evaluation of Job Seeker Introductory Emails

Stephanie Kelly ; Jorge Gaytan ; Shona Morgan ; Michael K. Cundall ; Galen Foresman

Abstract

This study explored potential biases in professional writing evaluation. An experiment was conducted in which individuals with hiring authority or influence at their workplace evaluated an email with multiple grammatical/typographical mistakes requesting that the reader make time to speak with the author. Participants were randomly assigned into one of five conditions, each with a separate profile photo accompanying the email. Data analysis indicates that ethnicity of the author influenced how competent the author was perceived to be and the reader’s attitude about meeting with the author.

Journal: Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Published: 2023-12-01
DOI: 10.1177/23294906231154853
CompPile: Search in CompPile ↗
Topics: professional writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

Sharma et al. (2025)

A Decade of <i>Business and Professional Communication Quarterly</i…

Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (1)

Johnson et al. (2012)

Linguistic discrimination in writing assessment: How raters react to African Am…

Assessing Writing

Also cites 35 works outside this index ↓

10.1037/h0045513

↗
10.2307/359061

↗
10.1080/10510977609367893

↗
10.1016/j.soscij.2006.02.009

↗
10.1093/biosci/biac024

↗
10.1016/j.ijresmar.2005.11.001

↗
10.1177/002194367401100307

↗
10.1080/09589236.2021.1930524

↗
10.1080/03637754909374974

↗
10.2307/376679

↗
10.1097/NMC.0000000000000840

↗
10.1086/209930

↗
10.1080/10510974.2011.582663

↗
10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.01.005

↗
10.1177/0146167202238377

↗
10.1037/h0061861

↗
10.1080/14680777.2020.1838596

↗
10.1080/08824096.2016.1252909

↗
10.17265/2159-5313/2016.09.003

↗
10.1080/03637759909376464

↗
10.1177/2167479516670642

↗
10.1108/HRMID-05-2018-0102

↗
10.1016/j.mnl.2019.02.005

↗
10.1002/ets2.12192

↗
10.1177/0886260519885914

↗
10.1080/1369118X.2018.1534985

↗
10.3846/jbem.2020.13670

↗
10.1080/10646175.2013.748593

↗
10.1002/hrm.22037

↗
10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04101.x

↗
10.1080/01463370601036036

↗
10.1515/9781501502446

↗
10.1016/j.jairtraman.2016.12.007

↗
10.1177/2329488415613338

↗
10.1007/BF02894421

↗

CrossRef global citation count: 1 View in citation network →