Research conducted at Davenport University by Murad Ali indicates that
Muslims are the least likely out of all other ethnic groups to be hired
by employers. Participants were students enrolled in either the MBA
program or in business undergraduate courses. The type of full-time
work the students engaged in ranged from entry level to senior
executive. Many of the MBA students were already managers and had
hiring powers within their companies.
Participants ranked their desired applicants for positions based upon
their own preconceived notions from 1-5. A ranking of 1 meant that the
applicant was most desirable and a ranking of 5 meant that the
applicant was least desirable. All of the applicants were considered to
be equally qualified and all of them were male. The only difference
between the applicants was there name. Robert Schwalbach (White),
Tyrone Johnson (Black), Yan Chin (Asian), Pedro Gonzalez (Hispanic) and
Ahmed Al-Arabi (Muslim) were used to represent the different races and
ethnic groups.
The results of the study indicated that the following order of
preference was as follows African American, Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic
and Muslim. African Americans were more likely to be called back for
employment while Muslims were the least. The data was split into
similar groups with African Americans, Caucasians, and Asians on the
far left with Hispanics and Muslims on the far right. Data indicating
which background the participants came from wasn’t collected.
It is interesting to note that those people who are considered “main
stream” or who have been in the country for some time were all very
similar in their rankings. Hispanic and Muslims who are seen as newer
immigrants were stratified as the least likely to be hired. In essence
this means that immigrants are not considered to have the same
desirability to employers as “main stream Americans”. It is therefore
possible that poverty, unemployment and lack of healthcare may be
something imposed on this group than by personal choice.
Employers should be aware of the results of this study because it has
an impact with their compliance to the Civil Rights Act. As Muslims
become more aware of their rights in the workplace employers may have
more lawsuits to deal with. If the hiring managers allow their personal
preferences to determine who they are going to hire, instead of most
qualified, the bottom line of the company may be affected.
