Mental illness stigma and employer evaluation in hiring: Stereotypes, discrimination and the role of experience

Abstract

Mental illness stigma can constitute a significant barrier to entering employment. Drawing on 20 interviews with Norwegian employers, this article investigates how mental illness stigma affects employer evaluation of jobseekers who disclose a history of mental illness. It also explores how employers use accounts of their previous experience with employees with mental illness in their evaluations. Prior to the interviews, the employers received pairs of fictitious applications in which one of the candidates disclosed a history of mental illness. Thus, the interview data were paired with behavioural data on how the employers responded to mental illness disclosure in a genuine recruitment situation. The analysis reveals common stereotypes of people with mental illness as fragile and unreliable. Furthermore, discriminating and inclusive employers are juxtaposed in their approach to mental health stigma, characterised by either taboo and avoidance or empathetic dialogue. The findings indicate how negative experience is coupled

Disability discrimination in hiring: A systematic review

“…A recent development is the emergence of follow-up studies of correspondence experiments (Bjørnshagen 2022;Østerud 2022a;Østerud 2022b;Østerud 2023)…”

“…Table 1 shows the country of origin of reviewed studies which collect original data on hiring decisions (we exclude the four follow-up studies of Bjørnshagen (2022) Note: This table excludes the four follow-ups to correspondence studies that do not collect original data on hiring decisions (Bjørnshagen 2022;Østerud 2022a;Østerud 2022b;Østerud 2023).…”

“…All studies assume that disabled people are discriminated against and will receive fewer call-backs; this is either reasoned in an (extended) introduction or in a theoretical section capitalising on existing theoretical accounts and empirical results. Only 17% of all studies (n = 10) have a designated section on their theoretical framework (Berre 2023;Bjørnshagen 2021;Bjørnshagen, Rooth, and Ugreninov 2023;Bjørnshagen and Ugreninov 2021;Hipes et al 2016;Lyons et al 2017;Marchioro and Bartels 1994;Namingit, Blankenau, and Schwab 2021;Østerud 2023). The majority of papers mention employer prejudice as a contributing factor in hiring practices.…”

“…correspondence study on disability that was not conducted in the US or in Europe(Pearson, Yip, and Lo 2003; Hong Kong). Notably, all follow-ups to correspondence studies stem from Norway(Bjørnshagen 2022;Østerud 2022a;Østerud 2022b;Østerud 2023) …”

“…Note: This table excludes follow-ups to correspondence studies that do not collect original data on hiring decisions(Bjørnshagen 2022;Østerud 2022a;Østerud 2022b;Østerud 2023). Studies which cover multiple disabilities are listed multiple times, thus leading to a greater total.…”