An Analysis of Discrimination in Recruitment Processes Based on the Stereotype Content Model

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the perspective and discriminatory treatment experienced by refugees within the Turkish context. Turkey has received many refugees from conflict-ridden regions in recent years, mostly from Syria, with a current estimated population of 3.6 million Syrian inhabitants (UNCHR, n.d.). Consequently, this population was selected to be used in the study, by creating various candidate scenarios of them applying to job ads along with Turkish candidates. During the study, participants were presented with four different hypothetical candidates, either all Turkish or all Syrian, each characterized by varying degrees of competence and warmth. We hypothesized that participants would prefer Turkish candidates across all scenarios due to overt racial bias. Alternatively, we hypothesized that in the scenarios where the candidate has ambiguous qualifications, the Turkish candidate would be preferred more, due to aversive racism. The study was done with 50 individuals from the Turkish population by completing an online survey. The results showed that there were high rates of discrimination against Syrian candidates. In situations where the Syrian candidate was as competent and warm as the Turkish candidate, the Turkish one was highly favored, and could potentially signal a competition between the groups.