Examining the effects of male candidates' gender nonconformity on employment decisions

Abstract

Our research aimed to explore how interviewers perceive male candidates' gender nonconformity during job interviews and how job type may play a role in the process. Based on role congruity theory, we propose that male candidates' gender nonconformity negatively affects employment decisions through cognitive and affective processes (i.e. perceived expectancy violation and likability). Further, based on the literature on occupational gender stereotypes, we examined the moderating effect of job type on the above indirect process. We believe that the negative indirect effects of male candidates' gender nonconformity on employment decisions through perceived expectancy violation and likability will be weakened when interviewing for female-dominated jobs compared with male-dominated jobs. We found robust evidence consistent with our theoretical assertion using three independent between-subjects experiments.