The effect of applicant age, job level, and accountability on perceptions of female job applicants

We used simulated videotaped employment interviews to assess the effect of accountability on impressions of female job applicants. One hundred and twenty American undergraduates majoring in business and personnel related areas were informed that they would be participating in the pilot testing of a new employee placement technique. The age of the job applicant (25, 40, or 55 years), the position for which they were being considered (assistant director or director), and the degree to which subjects were made to feel accountable for their impressions of the applicant (low or high accountability) were manipulated, resulting in a 3 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design. The predicted interaction between accountability and applicant age was found on age-related adjective checklist items. Increasing the subjects' accountability produced more stereotypical impressions of all applicants, along with a tendency to attribute the applicant's behavior to dispositional factors.