Ageism in Hiring Decisions: Sense of Purpose as a Mitigating Strategy

Discrimination against older adults in the workplace is a pervasive issue that has important consequences for older adults, leading to lower well-being (Stokes & Moorman, 2020) and worse job outcomes (Macdonald & Levy, 2016). One area where discrimination manifests is in hiring practices, and thus research is needed to understand factors that impact willingness to hire older adults. One potential intervention target to reduce age discrimination in hiring is sense of purpose. Sense of purpose manipulations have previously been successful in increasing one’s comfort with diversity (Burrow & Hill, 2013), and thus may prove successful in combatting age discrimination in the workplace. Therefore, the current studies sought to understand whether sense of purpose was related to ageist attitudes and hiring decisions, and how a purpose manipulation might serve as a tool to combat discrimination in hiring. Across two studies (n = 594, MAge = 27.20), participants were shown the resumé of either an older adult applicant (62-years-old) or younger adult applicant (32-years-old), and were asked how hireable they would rate the applicant. The research found that the purpose manipulation did effectively increase individuals’ sense of purpose. In addition, the research found that sense of purpose was negatively related to ageist attitudes. However, the purpose manipulation was unsuccessful in reducing ageist attitudes, and had no effect on ageist discrimination in hiring. These results suggest that while sense of purpose is negatively related to ageist attitudes, manipulating purpose may not be an effective tool to reduce ageist attitudes or discrimination.

Public or private? Blurring the lines through YouTube recruitment of military veterans by private security companies

Private security companies (PSCs) blur the lines between the public and the private sector through the provision of services to state militaries. Based on a multi-modal qualitative content analysis of YouTube recruitment videos aimed at veterans, we show how PSCs also challenge these boundaries through their hiring practices. By relating to veterans’ past as hero warriors and by envisioning their future as corporate soldiers, the companies appear as ‘like-military’ and as allowing ex-militaries to ‘continue their mission’. The findings contribute to scholarly debates about the privatization of security. They illustrate that similarly to the public sector, the private is also re-constituted through the military values that veterans introduce. The study adds to the literature on the visualization of war showing how video-based platforms allow security actors such as PSCs to construct their corporate identity in ambivalent ways by appealing to different emotional levels and by giving rise to different narratives.

In the Midst of Hiring: Pathways of Anticipated and Accidental Job Evolution During Hiring

In this paper, we examine the evolution of jobs in the midst of the hiring process: how jobs change between the decision to bring in someone to do a body of work and hiring someone. We analyze data from interviews, observations, and documents about start-up hiring and find that, during hiring, tasks are added and removed from jobs; jobs are abandoned, replaced, and moved; and hiring processes are relaunched. We describe two pathways that this evolution takes: the pathway of anticipated evolution, shaped by the unknown nature of the jobs being filled, and the pathway of accidental evolution, shaped by unanticipated factors surrounding jobs. Although the pathways lead to many of the same immediate consequences, there are differences in the longer-term consequences. Across the pathways, many jobs continue to evolve. On the pathway of anticipated evolution, many job incumbents leave within a year and are not replaced. On the pathway of accidental evolution, the longer-term consequences for job incumbents, structures, and organizations range from stability in structures and incumbents to ongoing conflict and incumbent departure. Not surprisingly, most evolving jobs are new to their organizations, but contrary to common conceptions, job evolution is not the product of managers who lack experience or use lax hiring practices. Our observations provide evidence of the emergent nature of jobs, hiring, and organizations.

Corporations, Conflict Prevention, and Resolution in Colombia

Colombia, having recently emerged from the longest ongoing civil war in the Western Hemisphere, offers evidence of the transformative effect of an emerging active private sector. As the country transitions through the challenges of disarmament and reintegration of rebel troops, private companies are also helping to build peace- and not just with their marketing campaigns. Through hiring practices, infrastructure projects, and economic investments, the private sector often helps “fill the gaps” where governments are unwilling or unable to provide needed goods and services. At the same time, their strong position at the negotiating table may have prolonged the conflict. This chapter explores the role of corporations in Colombia’s peace process.

Artificial Intelligence Applications in the Auditing Profession: A Literature Review

This paper investigates some essential questions that might interest auditors regarding the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) applications on the auditing profession by reviewing a selective bibliography of papers published mainly between 2016 and 2020. It discusses the major AI applications in the auditing field and explores the associated benefits in increasing auditing work’s effectiveness, efficiency, and quality. It further illustrates the major internal critical considerations that should be taken into account before AI application adoption in auditing practices, from initial decision-making to the use of proper countermeasures, to ensure the successful and effective implementation of AI applications. The extent to which AI applications in the accounting and auditing field might affect current hiring practices and threaten an auditor’s job, as performed today, is discussed and various debates and contradictory opinions are presented. The major AI applications adopted by the Big Four accounting firms are also discussed.

Academic Identity and Communities of Practice: Narratives of Social Science Academics Career Decisions in Taiwan

Academic identity is an important aspect of organizing an academic career. An academic identity is distinct and unique and can be defined as the core attitudes that determine how individuals approach the concept of work. In the current era of neoliberalism, changes to university governance in Taiwan have transformed working conditions and hiring practices in academia. Inevitably, role conflicts have emerged, and work stress within higher education institutions has increased. The current study summarizes the narratives of nine academics from the social sciences. The study is anchored in the concept that academic identity formation is rooted in the doctoral education stage. Using a qualitative narrative inquiry lens, interactions between different communities of practice during the doctoral education stage are analyzed, along with later career decisions and the role communities of practice play in those decisions. The findings show that doctoral mentors and fellows all contributed to the formation of a core academic identity, while later career decisions were equally affected by neoliberal policies. It is hoped that by recognizing the role of academic identity, administrators may be able to influence how academics adapt amidst the competing pressures within the academe.

The evolving perspectives on the Chinese labour regime in Africa

This article explores the logics, persistence and evolution of perspectives on the Chinese labour regime in Africa. Studies find that Chinese firms’ labour practices engender abuse via casualisation of labour, low remuneration, and a general lack of adherence to occupational safety. Contrarian studies however demonstrate variations among Chinese firms’ labour practices as mediated by the labour dynamics of host countries, labour specificities and industrial capitalism dynamics. The article concludes by questioning the ‘talent gap’ dynamic in Africa in relation to Chinese firms’ managerial hiring practices and calls for an engaged scholarship on how Chinese investment in Africa’s human resource base is altering the ‘talent gap’ phenomenon.

Forstjóraráðningar í þjóðhagslega mikilvægum fyrirtækjum: Kynjahalli, útilokun og ófagleg ráðningarferli?

Iceland is a global leader in gender equality, nevertheless, inequality persists in public interest entities, that is listed companies. Men hold CEO positions in all 19 Icelandic listed companies and chair the board of all companies, except one. This study sheds light on the hiring process for CEOs of listed companies and why the increased number of women board members has not led to an increased number of female CEOs. The research question is: How do women on boards of listed companies experience the CEO hiring process with regard to the possibilities of men or women to be hired? Twenty-two women sitting on boards of all listed companies in Iceland were interviewed. Findings reveal dissatisfaction with the prevailing hiring practices, which the female board members experience as a fast-paced and very closed process. The process is heavily reliant on board-members’ networks and headhunters’ lists. Such hiring processes are exclusionary for women and some interviewees are conflicted about their own participation in the process. The main contribution of this research is that female board members of all listed companies are interviewed for the first time to shed light on their experiences of the hiring process for senior management positions.