Race, Gender and Beauty: The Effect of Information Provision on Online Hiring Biases

Abstract

We conduct a study of hiring bias on a simulation platform where we ask Amazon MTurk participants to make hiring decisions for a mathematically intensive task. Our findings suggest hiring biases against Black workers and less attractive workers, and preferences towards Asian workers, female workers and more attractive workers. We also show that certain UI designs, including provision of candidates’ information at the individual level and reducing the number of choices, can significantly reduce discrimination. However, provision of candidate’s information at the subgroup level can increase discrimination. The results have practical implications for designing better online freelance marketplaces.

Keywords: discrimination; gig economy; hiring,hiring bias, racial bias, gender bias, beauty bias, hiring discrimination, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, human resources, workforce management, freelance marketplaces, sharing economy, platform work, UX design, User Interface, Human Computer Intera

JEL Classification: J00, J4, J3, J46, J31, J60, J71, J7