It is estimated that between 25 and 66 percent of gay and lesbian employees experience workplace discrimination. Yet sexual orientation bias may be more complex than simply lower ratings for gays generally. Using a 2X2X2X3 mixed model repeated measures experimental design with undergraduate students as raters, hypothetical male and female gay and straight targets were rated by both male and female participants on performance, pay recommendations, and promotion recommendations as well as on ratings of liking. Further, the information on target performance level (high, average, and low) was manipulated to determine whether there are differential effects by performance level. Results showed that target sexual orientation was a significant predictor of ratings on all four dependent variables, although effect sizes were small. An interaction effect was found between target sexual orientation and performance level on pay raise recommendations, promotion recommendations, and liking ratings, with gay people being penalized more for their sexual orientation at higher performance levels, but again the effect sizes were small. Also, an interaction effect between target sex and rater sex was found for job performance ratings, pay raise recommendations, and liking ratings, with male raters giving higher ratings to male targets than female. Differences in findings compared to previous studies are discussed.
