Are Japanese Willing to Employ a Chinese Candidate with High Language Proficiency? An Experimental Study of Prejudice in Hiring Decisions

Abstract

We investigated the extent to which Japanese hold prejudice attitudes toward Chinese. Japanese participants evaluated the personality and job qualifications of a male job candidate as a function of the candidate’s nationality (Japanese, Chinese, or simply Asian), the number of languages he speaks, and the level of the participants’ patriotism.The Japanese participants’ evaluation of the candidate was not influenced by the candidate’s nationality, but was influenced by the number of languages he speaks. The level of the participants’ patriotism also influenced their evaluation of the job candidate in expected and unexpected directions. Various implications of the results were discussed.