The effect of voice quality on hiring decisions Cover Image
  • Price 120.00 €

The effect of voice quality on hiring decisions
The effect of voice quality on hiring decisions

Author(s): Lea Tylečková, Zuzana Prokopová, Radek Skarnitzl
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Nakladatelství Karolinum
Keywords: voice quality; phonation types; speaker’s perception; hiring decisions; matched guise technique

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the effect of voice quality on hiring decisions. Considering voice quality an important tool in an individual’s self-presentation in the job market, it may very well enhance his/her job prospects, while some voice qualities may affect employers’ judgments in a negative way. Five men and five women were recorded reading four different utterances representing answers to job interviewers’ questions in four different phonation guises: modal, breathy, creaky and pressed. 38 professional employment interviewers recorded the speakers’ hireability and personality ratings (likeability, self-confidence and trustworthiness) on 7-point semantic differential scales based on the speakers’ voice. The results revealed a significant effect of the phonation guises on the speakers’ ratings with the modal voice being superior to the cluster of non-modal voices. Interestingly, the non-modal guises were evaluated in a very similar way, except for the self-confidence category with the breathy voice getting the lowest scores on the one hand and the pressed voice correlating with high self-confidence ratings on the other.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 109-120
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Czech