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Does ideology influence hiring in China? evidence from two randomized experiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2022

Jennifer Pan Open the ORCID record for Jennifer Pan [Opens in a new window]  and
Tongtong Zhang Open the ORCID record for Tongtong Zhang [Opens in a new window]
Jennifer Pan
Affiliation:
Department of Communication, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Tongtong Zhang*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

China after Mao is typically characterized as a country where economic opportunities are based on merit instead of ideological conformity. However, the salience of ideology has grown under the rule of Xi Jinping. Using a large-scale resume audit experiment and a conjoint survey experiment of hiring managers in China, we find that firms in China do not reward job candidates for expressing conformity to the ideology of the regime, but job candidates who express support for Western democracy are less employable. Results suggest that firms in innovative industries designated as strategically important by the Chinese regime (e.g., artificial intelligence) penalize support for Western democracy by the largest magnitude while the remaining firms in innovative industries do not penalize political non-conformity.

Keywords

labor marketfirmsChinaideologydemocracyexperiment
Type
Original Article
Information
Political Science Research and Methods , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , January 2023 , pp. 63 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Political Science Association

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https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CLZZTW
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