Unhoused and unhireable? Examining employment biases in service contexts related to perceived warmth and competence of people experiencing houselessness

Abstract

Lack of safe and stable housing is a pernicious and growing social concern, and stereotypes about individuals experiencing houselessness are generally quite negative. Little scholarly work has examined housing insecurity and its associated stereotypes in employment contexts. The purpose of the current research was to examine, in the context of the hospitality industry, whether housing status influences hiring managers' perceptions of hireability (Study 1) and customers' evaluations of an organization and its employees (Study 2) using the stereotype content model. Across two experimental studies, we assessed participant attitudes toward individuals experiencing houselessness. In Study 1, we instructed 148 hotel managers to listen to a hypothetical job interview with either an unhoused or housed job applicant, and then complete measures of hireability. In Study 2, we instructed 139 hotel customers to observe a hypothetical interaction with either an unhoused or housed employee, and then evaluate the employee and the organization. Study 1's findings suggested an indirect effect of housing status on perceived hireability through warmth, and this indirect relationship was moderated by gender. Men who were houseless were rated lower in warmth, and thus lower in hireability, than non‐houseless men or women regardless of their housing status. However, houseless men were perceived by customers as warmer than non‐houseless men as employees, driving higher evaluations of the organization and the employee (Study 2). Hiring initiatives targeted at providing short‐term housing for unhoused employees will benefit employees, employers, and the larger communities they encompass.

Metamotivational knowledge of others’ achievement goals in a work context.

“…The occupation used in Experiment 1 and the occupation used in this experiment are approximately the same in gender dominance, according to the Note. The magnitude of the correlations between perceived competence and perceived warmth, and between these two variables and interview likelihood are comparable to those observed in other research in the work domain (see Halper et al, 2019;Martinez et al, 2022;Merritt et al, 2018). In addition, it is important to remember that the relations between the perceived competence and perceived warmth variables and interview likelihood reported in the text are tested using simultaneous multiple regression analysis.…”

Employing the houseless as corporate social responsibility

“…The audio recordings presented to the participants were based on a previously published vignette study on the outcomes of an interaction between a hotel front desk agent and guest (Martinez et al , 2022). Participants were randomly assigned to hear one of two actors read a script as the “agent,” but the actor playing the “guest” was the same in both conditions.…”