Virtual interviews have become ubiquitous, yet research on the psychological effects of their technological characteristics remains sparse. Many practitioners caution that malfunctions that commonly occur during interviews may negatively influence interviewers’ perceptions of an applicant. This concern is heightened for some groups of applicants, particularly those of certain age groups. Age stereotypes characterize older adults as technologically inept, and per the similarity effect, the dual ages of an applicant and an interviewer likely influence an interviewer’s attributions of a technology malfunction. We explored these propositions by investigating the effects that one such malfunction, an echo, has on raters. This experiment used a 2 (younger applicant vs. older applicant) × 2 (younger rater vs. older rater) × 3 (no echo vs. minor echo vs. severe echo) between-subject design to test hypotheses. Results showed that raters generally made situational attributions of malfunctions. Raters blamed the echo on older applicants slightly more than younger applicants, but attributions did not predict perceptions of interview performance, decisions to hire, or salary recommendations. Malfunctions and age similarity were generally not related to hiring outcomes. These findings advance theories surrounding attributions and age biases while offering no clear evidence that specific age groups are at a disadvantage in virtual interviews.

中文翻译：

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视频会议采访中故障的评估者归因

虚拟访谈已经无处不在，但对其技术特征的心理影响的研究仍然很少。许多从业者警告说，面试中常见的故障可能会对面试官对申请人的看法产生负面影响。对于某些申请人群体，尤其是某些年龄组的申请人，这种担忧更为突出。年龄刻板印象将老年人描述为技术无能，根据相似效应，申请人和面试官的双重年龄可能会影响面试官对技术故障的归因。我们通过调查一种此类故障（回声）对评分者的影响来探索这些命题。该实验使用了 2（年轻申请人与年长申请人）×2（年轻评估者与年长评估者）×3（无回声与轻微回声与无回声对比）。严重回声）被试之间的设计来检验假设。结果表明，评估者通常会对故障进行情境归因。评分者将回声归咎于年龄较大的申请人略多于年轻的申请人，但归因并不能预测对面试表现、雇用决定或薪水建议的看法。故障和年龄相似性通常与招聘结果无关。这些发现推进了围绕归因和年龄偏见的理论，但没有提供明确的证据表明特定年龄组在虚拟访谈中处于劣势。但归因并不能预测对面试表现、聘用决定或薪酬建议的看法。故障和年龄相似性通常与招聘结果无关。这些发现推进了围绕归因和年龄偏见的理论，但没有提供明确的证据表明特定年龄组在虚拟访谈中处于劣势。但归因并不能预测对面试表现、聘用决定或薪酬建议的看法。故障和年龄相似性通常与招聘结果无关。这些发现推进了围绕归因和年龄偏见的理论，但没有提供明确的证据表明特定年龄组在虚拟访谈中处于劣势。