TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Devos, Louise
AU  - Lippens, Louis
AU  - Baert, Stijn
        TI  - Religion Versus Religiosity: What Matters for Hiring?
        PY  - 2026/Sep/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18906
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18906
        AB  - Religious discrimination in hiring is rarely studied independently from ethnic discrimination. We fill this gap using a preregistered factorial survey experiment in which professional recruiters evaluate candidate profiles that independently vary by ethnic majority versus minority names, visual religious signals, and volunteering activities signalling either Christian or Muslim religious affiliation. Beyond hiring intentions, we measure recruiters’, colleagues’, and customers’ anticipated willingness to work with candidates, as well as recruiters’ HEXACO personality assessments of the candidates. Candidates whose religious position recruiters identify receive lower interview ratings than candidates whose position remains unclear to them, and this penalty does not differ between Christian, Muslim, and atheist attributions; interview propensity declines further as attributed religiosity rises; and among the assigned signals, only religious volunteering reduces hiring chances. Religious candidates are not regarded as less diligent or less honest, but as less likely to be accepted by others.
        KW  - religion
KW  - hiring
KW  - discrimination
KW  - factorial survey experiment
        ER  -