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SECOL LXXIX Conference 2012 Jeanne J. Holmes, PhD, Douglas Mahony, PhD, & Sasha Johnson-Coleman, PhD

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Background Leadership Prototype Accent/Dialect & Stereotype Activation Methodology Results Findings & Implications

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Human Resource Professional The Influence of Recruiter Accent on Potential Applicants Perceptions of the Organization Covering Study - Covering: Social out-group members attempts to lessen the behaviors or triggers for out- group-based stereotypes when in the presence of social in-group members - Multiple out-groups (race, gender, sexuality, disability) - Multiple varieties (including linguistic)

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Caucasian males regardless of industry or demographics of employees (Rosette et al., 2008) Asian Americans are expected to excel in math, science and engineering roles (Sy et al., 2010) Caucasian males have no occupational stereotypes outside of leadership

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Language can serve as the marker and medium for various social identities (Lippi-Green, 1997) the listeners can gather social information regarding class, ethnicity, age, gender and a range of local groups and types (Eckert &McConnell-Ginet, 2003, 269). Discrimination based on linguistics is publicly acceptable (Wolfram & Schilling-Estes, 1998)

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H 1 : Applicants with Appalachian English (AppE) will have significantly lower evaluations than applicants with SAE when applying for positions in stereotypic organizations. H 2 : Applicants with Appalachian English (AppE) will have significantly lower evaluations than applicants with SAE when applying for positions in counter-stereotypic organizations. H 3 : Applicants with Appalachian English (AppE) will have significantly higher evaluations when applying for positions in stereotypic organization than counter-stereotypic organization.

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- Online survey about use of audio interviews on job boards Online survey - 95 participants (residents of GA, KY, NC, SC, VA) - Applicant for a Management Trainee - John Deere (stereotypic)/ Nordstrom (counter-stereotypic) - Resume & answers to pre-screening interview questions (audio)Resume - 2 x 2 between-subjects design - Appalachian English (AppE)/Standard American English (SAE) - Stereotypic organization/ Non-stereotypic organization

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- Dependent Variable - Evaluation (3 items: Professionalism, Match, Potential) - Independent Variables - Organization (John Deere, Nordstrom) - Accent (Appalachian English, Standard American English)Appalachian EnglishStandard American English - Manipulation check (2 questions about fit) - Pearsons correlation ( =.825, p