RACE AS A FACTOR IN JOB PLACEMENT - SERENDIPITOUS FINDINGS OF ETHNIC DRIFT

In the course of analyzing data from a criterion-related test validati on study, an unexpected pattern of initial job placement was noticed. There was a statistically significant tendency in this large commercia l bank to assign new employees to supervisors of the same ethnic group ; and among those who were subsequently reassigned within 5 months, th e level of such identity-based homophily increased significantly furth er. Four alternative nonracial hypotheses that might have explained th e pattern of reassignments were investigated and rejected. At present, no explanations are available of the processes underlying the pattern of intra-organizational ''ethnic drift.'' Implications are noted for the study of cultural diversity and subgroup differences in organizati ons, and for the investigation of criterion relevance and test bias in validation studies.