Influence of Immigrants’ Attributes on Unfair Discrimination in Organizations

Abstract Purpose This chapter applies a model of Social Cognition to explain some of the underlying factors that influence unfair discrimination against immigrants in organizations. Design/Approach It (1) presents a model of the attributes of immigrants that influence the categorization, stereotyping, job expectancies, and employment decisions about immigrants, (2) reviews the existing literature on biases toward immigrants, (3) offers hypotheses to guide future research, and (4) suggests strategies for overcoming unfair discrimination toward these individuals in employment contexts. Findings Our review of the research suggested that a number of factors influence unfair discrimination toward immigrants, including their country of origin, race/ethnicity, perceived danger, gender, socioeconomic status, education, and skill. However, most of this research has been conducted in social contexts, so we argued that additional research is needed to examine the relations between these attributes and employment decisions in work-related settings. Practical Implications Our model suggests several strategies that can be used to overcome unfair discrimination against immigrants in work contexts. We outline these strategies in the chapter. Social Implications There are hostile attitudes toward immigrants around the world, which makes it difficult for them to gain and maintain employment. Thus, this chapter offers several reasons for these negative attitudes and strategies for overcoming them. Originality Despite the widespread negative reactions to immigrants around the world, relatively little theory and research has focused on unfair discrimination toward immigrants in work settings. Therefore, our chapter makes a unique and important contribution to understanding unfair discrimination toward immigrants, and suggests strategies that may help them overcome these problems.