The Effects of Non-Native Accents on Hiring Success.
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2019-06-07
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en
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Abstract
The process of globalization and an increase in migration have led to a multicultural workforce. Multinational companies often opt for English as their corporate language, which in turn leads to an increasing number of interactions between non-native English speakers and thus the prevalence of non-standard accents in business contexts. The current study investigated the effects of non-native accents on hiring success. In an experiment, 116 Dutch participants evaluated either a standard American job candidate, a Spanish accented candidate or a German-accented candidate in terms of perceived status, solidarity, dynamism and hiring success. Findings showed, that overall, the non-standard accents were downgraded in comparison to the American accent. For Dutch multinationals with English as their corporate language, this could mean that non-native job applicants face discrimination issues. Countermeasures could include creating awareness of such tendencies and therefore increasing social acceptance of non-standard accents in English.
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