Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe - Hire Him and Let Her Go? Using Science to Reduce Hiring Bias

Of late, there has been increased focus on ‘auditing’ HR processes and practices for bias, with a view to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion at work. Those of us in the organizational sciences like industrial-organizational (work) psychology or behavioural economics know that there are several research-based ideas we can apply to these efforts.

Organizations have a real opportunity to structure talent acquisition/hiring practices and systems in ways that change the default, convenient behaviour of these decision makers (prone to bias) and shift them towards less biased decisions.

From nudging decision makers to be more accountable, to using automated tools that minimise the element of human error, from the language used in recruiting materials to signal inclusion, to the use of structure to promote fairness and accuracy - this article describes eight evidence-based ways to reduce the impact of bias (gender bias, as an illustration) in hiring decisions.

My co-author Dhanisha and I are proud of our peer-reviewed article published in the Special issue of NHRDN Journal: Implications of Behavioural Economics for HR Practice (Guest Editor: Zubin R. Mulla) on February 24, 2021. The version posted here is the submission finally accepted for publication. The final publication may be accessed from this link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2631454120987343.

APA Style Citation: Nandigama, D., & Shyamsunder, A. (2021). Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe: Hire Him and Let Her Go? Using Science to Reduce Hiring Bias. NHRD Network Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/2631454120987343