A Meta-analysis of Employment Discrimination Against Muslims and Arabs

Abstract

Muslim and Arab individuals are discriminated against in almost all domains. Recently, there hasbeen a focus on examining the treatment of these groups in the work setting. Despite the great number of primary studies examining this issue, there has not yet been a quantitative review of the research literature. To fill this gap, this meta-analysis examined the presence and magnitude of hiring discrimination against Muslim and Arab individuals. Using 46 independent effect sizes from 26 sources, we found evidence of discrimination against Muslim and Arab people in employment judgments, behaviors, and decisions across multiple countries. Moderator analyses revealed that discrimination is stronger in field settings, when actual employment decisions are made, and when experimental studies used “Arab” (vs. “Muslim”) targets. However, primary studies provide inconsistent and inaccurate distinctions between Arabs and Muslims, therefore future work should be cautious in categorizing the exact aspect of identity being studied.

Examining discrimination in asynchronous video interviews: Does cultural distance based on country‐of‐origin matter?

“…They found especially high levels of discrimination for the latter group. Similarly, strong evidence of hiring discrimination in Western countries against Arabs or Muslims (i.e., a culturally-distant group) was also found in a recent meta-analysis (Bartkoski et al, 2018). More generally, another meta-analysis of 97 field experiments conducted across nine countries in Europe and North America found that hiring discrimination fell on a continuum ranging from non-White immigrants (high levels of discrimination) to non-White native applicants (moderate) to White native applicants (lowest; Quillian et al, 2019).…”

Trust and Trustworthiness of Christians, Muslims, and Atheists/Agnostics in the United States

“…These results may help explain observed discrimination against Muslims (Bartkoski et al. 2018) and against nonbelievers (Cragun et al. 2012; Doane and Elliott 2015) as discriminatory behavior often originates in distrust.…”

“…A meta‐analysis shows that discrimination against Muslims is highly prevalent (Bartkoski et al. 2018). Muslims are often classified as evil, violent, aggressive, greedy, immoral, inferior, and irrational (Kumar, Warnke, and Karabenick 2014; Lipka 2017; Naber 2006).…”