Teacher Recruitment: A Test of The Similarity-Attraction Hypothesis for Race and Sex

Race (Black and White) and sex of applicants and of organizational representatives were systematically manipulated to produce demographically similar and dissimilar pairings. Vacancy characteristics associated with teacher positions were manipulated through recruitment messages. Contents of recruitment messages were varied to reflect different groupings of homogeneous attributes relating to economic incentives, work environment, or work itself Each attribute grouping rendered a different recruitment message (n = 3),and all recruitment messages were evaluated by each applicant. Reactions of applicants provided partial support for the similarity-attraction paradigm within the recruitment context. Racially similar pairings produced more positive results than racially dissimilar pairings. Contents of recruitment messages were found to interact with sex of an organizational representative and race of an applicant. Black applicants preferred female organizational representatives presenting recruitment messages emphasizing either work environment attributes or work itself attributes. White applicants preferred male organizational representatives presenting recruitment messages stressing only work environment attributes.