Does person ? religion fit exists? An explorative study of the subtle existence of religious discrimination in the hiring process ? Evidence from USA and from the Middle East

Although person ? environment theory with all its subtypes has been existent and popular for decades, there was no mention yet in the literature on whehter a ?fit? of someone?s religion is present ? at least subtly. In this research, we seek to unravel the presence of person-religion fit especially in the hiring process by examining whehter the religion manifestation in the application process affects applicants? selection in three countries: Oman, the USA, and Egypt. An experiment using Qualtrics Panel data will be used for this purpose in which resumes will be manipulated to reveal the religion affiliation of applicants in these countries. The religion affiliations will include: Muslim, Christian, and Neutral conditions by manipulating the names and volunteering sections of the resumes. The findings will contribute to a well-established literature of person-environment fit in that it extends the ?fit? concept to encompass religion as an unprecedented addition to the theory. Further, the results should contribute to the discrimination literature by showing that an illegal discrimination can exist ?subtly? and act as another barrier to diversity in organizations. Practically, we expect the study to inform managers on potential biases in the selection process that they must be aware of if a fair selection process is to be achieved. Finally, the study should inform policy makers on the importance of regulations that can further minimize potential discriminations that if otherwise left unattended to could hinder capable talent from contributing to the community and potentially can cause legal problems in organizations.