The effect of workplace gender and race demographic composition on hiring through employee referrals

Abstract This quantitative study tests whether the gender and race composition of the workplace helps explain why there are systematic differences in how employees are hired across gender and race. We find evidence that differences across racial groups in the use of employee referrals may be explained partly by differences in the race composition of the workplace. We also find evidence that recruiting source models that do not include workplace demographic composition may misestimate the effect of the new employee's race on the hiring source.