Making the Band: Constructing Competitiveness in Faculty Hiring Decisions

Our study makes three important contributions to research on faculty selection and efforts to make faculty hiring more effective and inclusive. First, we studied faculty selection using an experimental method with at least two components that more closely mirror actual hiring. We forced comparative evaluation of candidates with different qualifications and found less overt bias against historically marginalized candidates using this method. This should be examined and replicated in future studies. Second, we tested whether rating or ranking candidates, two common outcomes requested of search committees, resulted in different outcomes for candidates, and it did not. This is useful to know because ranked lists can unintentionally reinforce negative stigmas of those ranked 2nd or 3rd during onboarding and socialization processes. Thus, if the difference in outcomes is negligible, threshold lists prevent that and are advisable. Third, we found the very rigid construction of competitiveness bands and how perceived identity emerged as relevant only after all other factors had been considered equal, and in isolation of those factors. This is important because equity-minded scholarship reminds us that these factors operate in tandem to create unique opportunity structures that include some and exclude others. We explore implications for future research and practice building from these contributions