Diversity factors and preferential treatments in selecting employees

This study examines the effect of hiring managers' demographic characteristics on employee selection preferences, and the strength of the manager's selection preferences towards candidates' demographic characteristics when the candidate's relative qualification changes. A sample of 156 respondents from various industries in Malaysia was acquired and analysed using cross‐tabulation, Chi‐square and t‐test of differences in means. Six variables examined were age, gender, race, religion, marital status, and locality of education. The effect of hiring managers' demographic characteristics on the decision to hire a candidate is significant for two variables: race and religion. Also, the strength of preference, based on the candidate's race and religion, remains high even though their qualification was lower. Implications of the study are discussed.