Hughes, Karen D;
Konnikov, Alla;
Denier, Nicole;
Hu, Yang;
(2025)
Problematizing the role of artificial intelligence in hiring and organizational inequalities: A multidisciplinary review.
Human Relations
10.1177/00187267251403902.
(In press).
Preview |
Text
Hu_hughes-et-al-2025-problematizing-the-role-of-artificial-intelligence-in-hiring-and-organizational-inequalities-a.pdf Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
What are the implications of the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment and hiring for organizational inequalities? While advocates suggest that AI is a groundbreaking tool that can enhance hiring precision, efficiency, diversity and fit, critics raise serious concerns around bias, fairness, and privacy. This review article critically advances this debate by drawing on diverse scholarship across computing and data sciences; human resource, management, and organization studies; social sciences; and law. Using a hybrid review approach that combines scoping and problematizing review methods, we examine the implications of algorithmic hiring for organizational inequalities. Our review identifies a multidisciplinary discussion marked by asymmetries in how key concerns are conceptualized; a clear and heightened potential for AI to conceal inequalities in hiring processes; and contestation over the regulation of algorithmic hiring. Building on Acker’s (2006) framework of ‘inequality regimes’, we propose the concept of algorithmically-mediated inequality regimes to highlight AI’s capacity for concealing and reproducing inequalities in hiring through enhanced algorithmic invisibility and the growing legitimacy of AI solutions. We propose an agenda for future research, policy, and practice, emphasizing the need for an interdisciplinary ‘chain of knowledge’ and a multi-stakeholder ‘chain of responsibility’ in AI application and regulation.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Problematizing the role of artificial intelligence in hiring and organizational inequalities: A multidisciplinary review |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/00187267251403902 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267251403902 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s), 2025. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | inequality, new technology, human resource management, recruitment, personnel selection, employment law |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10217121 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
