Assessing biasing factors in asynchronous video interviews: applicant completion decisions, video background, and evaluation format

Asynchronous video interviews (AVIs) have become popular selection methods due to their flexibility and cost savings but might introduce new forms of bias. For instance, interviewees often complete them from home, their surroundings might signal personal or protected statuses, and technology issues might distort the information provided. This paper leverages two complementary studies to examine (a) the AVI completion decisions, recording quality, and background elements present in high- and low-stakes job interviews, (b) to what extent these AVI-specific elements and interviewees’ characteristics can bias performance ratings, and (c) whether evaluation standardization can help mitigate such biases. Study 1 used mock interviews with (N = 626) Prolific participants evaluated by professional hiring managers. Study 2 involved high-stakes interviews with (N = 523) real applicants for competitive education programmes evaluated by trained raters using either standardized or unstandardized approaches. AVI elements (attire, room tidiness, technical issues, background) were coded in both studies. Results showed that completion decisions depended on AVI stakes and could influence evaluations. Issues with recording quality were rare and modestly related to AVI evaluations. AVI backgrounds signalling personal or protected statuses were very rare and unrelated to evaluations. Evaluations standardization reduced bias only in relation to sex-based differences, but not other interviewee characteristics.