According to a study covered in a recent Reuters report, job applicants who drink alcohol are perceived as less intelligent and less suitable by American bosses.
In a series of six related experiments, researchers found that if a potential manager perceived any association with alcohol in the job seeker, this discovery prompted the boss to "expect cognitive impairment" in the candidate. In other words, the alcohol created a built-in bias that the job seeker was less intelligent than a non-drinking applicant. The researchers dubbed this prejudice "the imbibing idiot bias."
"Merely holding an alcoholic beverage may reduce the perceived intelligence of the person," researchers Scott Rick and Maurice Schweitzer wrote in the study presented to the Academy of Management's recent annual meeting.
One experiment invited 610 middle managers to evaluate a video in which actors played a manager and a prospective hire meeting over dinner. In some of the mock interviews, the manager ordered "Coke" or "the house Merlot." The job seeker also ordered either a soft drink or the wine.
Regardless of the manager's order, the observers judged the Merlot-sipping job seekers as less worthy of being hired and less "intelligent, scholarly and intellectual." Job seekers who ordered wine after the manager asked for a Coke were "especially punished" with low ratings for perceived intelligence.
The big question is are they uptight puritanical American managers or perhaps wine connoisseurs that realise choosing house wine is never the right option?
Posted via email from Personalised Champagne and Personalised Wine in the UK
