Page 393 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

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respondent could not think of coworker who satisfied these criteria, he
returned the questionnaire.
There were two primary variables of interest: (a) presumed role of af­
firmative action in the hiring decision and (b) perceived competence. The
first variable was assessed at the beginning of the questionnaire by asking
participants: "To what extent do you think this individual was given the
position because of affirmative action policies?" (completely-not at all). This
question was embedded in several similarly structured questions about
other possible reasons for hiring (e.g., work experience, educational back­
ground, and so on) in order to disguise our interest in affirmative action.
Perceived competence was assessed toward the end of the questionnaire
using similar items to those used in the lab study, which were combined
to create a competence scale.
Correlational analyses yielded the expected pattern. There was a signif­
icant negative relationship between the extent to which an individual was
presumed to be an affirmative action hiree and perceptions of competence
(r = —.72, p < 0.001). The greater the role affirmative action was thought to
have played in a coworker's hire, the less favorably that coworker was rated
in terms of his or her competence. Indeed, approximately 50% of the vari­
ance in competence ratings can be explained by the belief that affirmative
action policies had an impact on the hiring decision. Furthermore, the neg­
ative correlation between presumption of affirmative action in hiring and
perceptions of competence was significant whether the target person cho­
sen by the respondent was a White woman, a Black man, or a Black woman.
Thus, these data provided strong validation of the findings of the lab study.
Data collected about the assumed role of qualifications lent further sup­
port to the discounting process as the critical underlying dynamic. The
greater the presumed role of affirmative action in the hiring decision, the
less were qualifications to do the job well seen as the basis of the coworker's
selection and, very importantly, the less likely was the coworker to be seen
as qualified to do the job at the time he or she was hired. These find­
ings support our ideas about the assumptions that are made regarding
the procedures used in implementing affirmative action policies; they also
support our ideas about the assumptions that are made regarding the skills
and talents brought to the job by those thought to be hired on the basis of
affirmative action.

THE TENACITY OF THE EFFECT

The results of the studies just described support the idea that a stigma of
incompetence is associated with affirmative action. Men and women, stu­
dents and working people, all drew inferences of incompetence regarding