Abstract
Religious symbols, such as the hijab, are often deemed undesirable or banned in public employment. We test if clients’ perceptions and their performance are influenced by a hijab-wearing public servant, and further test if clients’ reflections on empathy or professionalism about the public servant mitigate potential negative effects. We preregistered and conducted a two-step 2 × 3 between-subjects experiment (n = 2,680; representative sample in Austria). We find no evidence that the wearing of a hijab by a public servant negatively influences clients’ perceptions, nor their performance during a public service process. The reflection answer with respect to professionalism or empathy, however, is related to clients’ performance: Clients’ positive reflection on public servants’ empathy or professionalism—independent of whether the public servant wears a hijab or not—positively relates to their performance in terms of task correctness. We discuss the relevance of these results regarding religious stereotyping and public employment policies.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 36 |
Journal | Review of Public Personnel Administration |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 4 Mar 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s) 2024.
Keywords
- Hijab
- public sector employment
- public service encounters
- religious minority public servants
- religious stereotyping