TY - JOUR
T1 - Are employers happy to hire happy candidates? Happiness and Employability Sources
AU - Sherman, Arie
AU - Atad, Erga
AU - Shtudiner, Zeev
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025
PY - 2025/4
Y1 - 2025/4
N2 - The literature demonstrates that while employee happiness has been shown to influence labor productivity, sales, and profits directly, including a happiness statement in an applicant's CV results in increased callback only for men. This paper explores gender-based discrimination through the lens of message design in impression management research, labor market practices, and happiness science. Employing a two-stage field experiment, this study probes the labor market's receptivity to the attribution of happiness responsibility in applicants. CVs with two happiness statements - corporate and personal - were dispatched to 634 job postings in economics, finance, and budgeting. Results from the within-subjects stage indicate that including the corporate happiness responsibility statement significantly elevated the number of callbacks for both genders. Conversely, the between-subjects stage revealed that personal happiness responsibility statements significantly boosted callback rates exclusively for males. These findings are consistent for three business objective factors: company type, location, and years of required experience. Moreover, the results have practical implications for both job seekers and employers in various industries.
AB - The literature demonstrates that while employee happiness has been shown to influence labor productivity, sales, and profits directly, including a happiness statement in an applicant's CV results in increased callback only for men. This paper explores gender-based discrimination through the lens of message design in impression management research, labor market practices, and happiness science. Employing a two-stage field experiment, this study probes the labor market's receptivity to the attribution of happiness responsibility in applicants. CVs with two happiness statements - corporate and personal - were dispatched to 634 job postings in economics, finance, and budgeting. Results from the within-subjects stage indicate that including the corporate happiness responsibility statement significantly elevated the number of callbacks for both genders. Conversely, the between-subjects stage revealed that personal happiness responsibility statements significantly boosted callback rates exclusively for males. These findings are consistent for three business objective factors: company type, location, and years of required experience. Moreover, the results have practical implications for both job seekers and employers in various industries.
KW - Employment
KW - Gender discrimination
KW - Happiness
KW - Impression management
KW - Message design
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85214462949&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socec.2025.102334
DO - 10.1016/j.socec.2025.102334
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AN - SCOPUS:85214462949
SN - 2214-8043
VL - 115
JO - Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
JF - Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
M1 - 102334
ER -