Seeing past different signals in the job interview: information improves ratings of candidates on the autism spectrum

• Date: 28 February 2023
• Pages: 872-888
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-12-2022-0334
• Published date: 28 February 2023
• Author: Debra R. Comer,Janet A. Lenaghan,Daphna Motro

Seeing past different signals in

the job interview: information

improves ratings of candidates

on the autism spectrum

Debra R. Comer, Janet A. Lenaghan and Daphna Motro

Frank G Zarb School of Business, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, USA

Abstract

Purpose –The authors used signaling theory to explain negative perceptions of individuals on the autism

spectrum (IotAS) in the job interview and explored whether parasocial contact could improve perceptions.

Design/methodology/approach–Participants were randomly assigned across six experimental conditions.

Some received information that IotAS’social and communication differences prevent them from attaining jobs

they could perform (information), some receivedthis information and watched a video showing IotAS working

competently (parasocial contact) and others were exposed to neither information nor video (control).

Participants then watched a mock interviewof a job candidate presenting as an IotAS or neurotypical and gave

their first impressions of him, perceptions of his job suitability and selection decision.

Findings –Participants had less favorable first impressions of the IotAS-presenting candidate and perceived

him as having lower job suitability and were thereforeless likely to select him. Parasocial contact had no effect.

However, participants who had received information that IotAS’differences keep them from being hired for

jobs they could do perceived the IotAS-presenting candidate as more suitable for the job and had greater

intentions to interact with and select him.

Originality/value –The authors enhance understanding of autism in the workplace by explaining how

IotAS’signaling behavior during a job interview impedes their selection. The authors also provide evidence

that a brief message that IotAS’social and communication differences keep them from securing jobs they could

perform can promote IotAS’selection by focusing decision-makers on their job-relevant qualifications.

Keywords Autism spectrum, Disabilities, Job interview, Parasocial contact theory, Signaling theory

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Many individuals on the autism spectrum [1] (henceforth, IotAS), even those with a post-

secondary education, are unemployed or underemployed (Hedley et al., 2017). Their

employment rate is lower than that of individuals with other disabilities (Remington and

Pellicano, 2019), despite their work ethic and work quality (Scott et al., 2017). With high

numbers of IotAS at or approaching working age (Zeidan et al., 2022), it is essential to address

this “unemployment travesty”(Mai, 2019, p. 8). Enabling IotAS to gain employment suited to

their strengths and interests would improve their well-being and supply needed talent to

organizations (Hedley et al., 2017). However, the job interview is a major obstacle for them.

Our work has several objectives. Using signaling theory (Spence, 1973), our first objective

is to explain how social and communication differences between IotAS and neurotypicals

reduce the likelihood that a neurotypical interviewer will select a job candidate on the autism

spectrum. Specifically, the signals candidates on the autism spectrum send contribute to

EDI

42,7

872

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Zarb School of Business, for supporting our project through a

Summer Research Grant to the first author. The authors also thank Rebecca M. DeRespino, Catherine

Fisher, Olivia L. Koenig, Jacob E. Malcom, Rudy G.Malcom and Eric Meirs, for their contributions to this

project; and Mukta Kulkarni and our two anonymous reviewers, for their helpful feedback on a previous

version of this paper.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 2 December 2022

Revised 27 January 2023

Accepted 9 February 2023

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 42 No. 7, 2023

pp. 872-888

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-12-2022-0334

neurotypical interviewers’unfavorable first impressions of them and their perceptions of

them as unsuitable for the jobs they seek. Our second objective is to apply parasocial contact

theory, which posits that indirect exposure via mass media can improve attitudes toward

outgroup members (White et al., 2021), to explore whether watching a video of successful job

performers on the autism spectrum could improve assessments of candidates on the autism

spectrum. Our third objective is to consider how our findings might have implications for

reducing hiring bias against IotAS. Research that regards people with disabilities as a broad

undifferentiated group may be less helpful for appreciating “the experiences of groups with

specific types of disabilities”(Beatty et al., 2019, p. 131). Accordingly, we focus on IotAS,

whom even diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) scholars have overlooked (Dobusch, 2021;

Tomczak et al., 2021).

The employment interview as stumbling block for IotAS

Autism has traditionally been regarded as a disorder, characterized by “persistent deficits in

social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts”and “restricted,

repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities”(American Psychiatric Association,

2013). The portrayal of autism as a deficiency in need of correction remains prevalent (Lewin

and Akhtar, 2021). Some, however, espouse Singer’s (1999) reconceptualization of autism as a

natural variation in how people think and learn. Proponents of the neurodiversity paradigm

regard disability not as a quality inherent to IotAS, but as the consequence of inadequate

societal accommodation (den Houting, 2019). They oppose the ableist elevation of the

neurotypical majority and othering of IotAS (O’Dell et al., 2016).

Empirical management research has focused on the experiences of employed IotAS

(Johnson and Joshi, 2016;Whelpley et al., 2021). Revealing an autism diagnosis at work can

expose IotAS to discrimination (Johnson and Joshi, 2016). Whereas IotAS who disclose may

receive helpful accommodations, they may also encounter negative reactions due to

colleagues’and managers’limited understanding of autism and/or to autism stigma

(Romualdez et al., 2021;Sarrett, 2017;Whelpley et al., 2021). Indeed, despite “autism

awareness”campaigns, misconceptions (McMahon et al., 2020) and negative stereotypes

(John et al., 2018;Mai, 2019) persist.

The selection of job candidates on the autism spectrum has received more conceptual than

empirical attention. It has been argued that IotAS’differences in interpersonal

communication may make it harder for them to fit in socially in the neurotypical-

dominated workplace, including during the job interview (Patton, 2019). Solomon (2020)

reasoned that, due to the highly social nature of the interview, “it may be the interview stage

that presents the greatest challenge”to the employment of IotAS (p. 4211). The language and

paralanguage of job candidates on the autism spectrum may strike their neurotypical

interviewers as peculiar and off-putting and therefore diminish their likelihood of being

selected (Krzeminska et al., 2019). In short, IotAS may have difficulty obtaining employment

matching their education and experience because of job interviewers’unfavorable

perceptions of them.

Two recent empirical studies explored the selection of job candidates on the autism

spectrum. Tomczak et al. (2021), drawing from Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll

et al., 2018), concluded from their interview-based study that stress from social-

communication demands drives IotAS’poor interview performance. Whelpley and May’s

(2022) experiment provided solid evidence that IotAS’“atypical social presentation rather

than their professional qualifications”disadvantages them in interviews.

Here, we extend Whelpley and May’s (2022) findings by considering signaling theory

to account for bias against IotAS in the job interview and parasocial contact theory as a

possible solution. Participants in our experiment gave their first impressions of a male

Looking past

differences in

the job

interview

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