Hiring by Sound: The Role of Recruiter Personality Traits on Accent Evaluations and Suitability for the Job.
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2025-01-08
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en
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This study examined how the personality traits of recruiters—specifically extraversion, openness to experience, and agreeableness—impacted their assessment of applicants' accents in hiring decisions. 65 Dutch-speaking human resource professionals participated in the experiment by listening to audio fragments of candidates speaking either with a British- English or a Dutch-English accent. Participants then rated the candidates on perceived status, affect, dynamics, and suitability for the job. The personality traits were measured using the HEXACO-60 questionnaire focusing on extraversion, openness to experience, and agreeableness. Results showed that the British-English accent was evaluated higher in terms of status and suitability compared to the Dutch-English accent. In contrast, recruiters with greater levels of extraversion, openness to experience and agreeableness did not show significant preference for one accent over the other in terms of perceived suitability, suggesting that other factors, such as job type and accent familiarity, may mediate these decisions.
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