Edvard Nergård Larsen

• Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Madsen, Aleksander Å & Hermansen, Are Skeie (2025). Blending in or moving on? Immigrant coworkers, assimilation, and employee turnover. Social Forces. doi: 10.1093/sf/soaf161. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  How does the presence of immigrant coworkers shape the likelihood that minority employees stay or leave their jobs? This study uses linked employer–employee administrative data covering the entire Norwegian labor market to investigate how workplace immigrant concentration influences turnover among immigrants and their native-born children. Building on theories of organizational demography, we ask whether working alongside a higher share of immigrant-background coworkers fosters employee retention—consistent with mechanisms of social contact and homophily—or instead prompts workplace exit, as suggested by group threat and competition theories. Our findings reveal that greater representation of immigrant-background coworkers significantly reduces turnover among immigrants, especially when contact occurs within same-skill occupations. The exposure effects reducing the likelihood of workplace exit are also stronger when immigrant-background employees share the same national origin with their minority coworkers and when minorities are better represented among top earners in the organization. For children of immigrants, the effects of coworker composition are weaker, consistent with theories of assimilation and the weakening of ethnic boundaries across generations. Taken together, these results support social contact theories, which claim that a more inclusive work environment and coworker support in more ethnically diverse workplace contexts foster organizational attachment and reduce turnover among immigrant-background minority employees. However, minority employees’ increased retention in organizations with higher immigrant concentration may also reinforce patterns of ethnic workplace segregation.

• Birkelund, Gunn Elisabeth & Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2025). Discrimination. In Gangl, Markus; Platt, Lucinda; Polavieja, Javier G. & Werfhorst, Herman G. van de (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Stratification. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197539484.013.18. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Discrimination is unfair and, in most societies, illegal. It is important to combat discrimination, and this chapter describes how social scientists think about discrimination, with a specific focus on labor market discrimination. The authors discuss different definitions of discrimination before presenting the three main theories, or models, of why employers might discriminate against job applicants. These models at the outset may be seen as different, yet the authors argue they are more similar than usually thought. Employers’ decision-making process is influenced by a range of contextual factors, and the chapter discusses meso and macro factors that might matter for where discrimination is likely to occur. The chapter also includes a section on how discrimination can be measured and a summary of some of the most important experimental evidence on discrimination related to race/ethnicity and gender.

• Larsen, Edvard Nergård & Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen (2024). Det etniske hierarkiet: Diskriminering på grunnlag av landbakgrunn, religion og hudfarge i det norske arbeidsmarkedet. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning (TfS). 65(4), p. 207–226. doi: 10.18261/tfs.65.4.1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Denne artikkelen analyserer resultatene fra et omfattende felteksperiment der 2779 fiktive jobbsøknader fra likt kvalifiserte personer med bakgrunn fra i alt 37 land ble sendt ut til like mange stillingsutlysninger i det norske arbeidsmarkedet. Analysene dokumenterer eksistensen av et etnisk hierarki i en norsk kontekst. Særlig jobbsøkere med navn fra Afrika, Midtøsten og Sør-Asia diskrimineres i ansettelsesprosessen. Søkere fra europeiske land, samt fra USA og Russland, møter også diskriminering, men i langt mindre grad. I tillegg til landbakgrunn og hudfarge viser våre analyser at også religiøs tilhørighet bidrar til å forme muligheter på arbeidsmarkedet. For majoritetsnorske søkere har tilknytning til kristendom en signifikant negativ effekt på sannsynligheten for å kalles inn til jobbintervju. Et slikt signal har ingen betydning for søkere fra Europa, USA og Russland, og en positiv effekt for søkere fra ikke-europeiske land. Tilknytning til islam har derimot sterk negativ effekt for sistnevnte gruppe, og særlig for menn. Resultatene diskuteres i lys av teorier om og tidligere forskning på etniske hierarkier i internasjonalt perspektiv.

• Birkelund, Gunn Elisabeth; Lanz, Avra & Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2021). Blir menn utsatt for ansettelsesdiskriminering i kvinnedominerte yrker? Søkelys på arbeidslivet. p. 197–209. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2021-03-04-03. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Vi kartlegger alle randomiserte felteksperimenter om kjønnsdiskriminering i ansettelses-prosesser som er publisert siden 1996, og hvor det er tilgjengelig nasjonalt spesifikke data om kjønnsfordeling etter yrke. Vi undersøker sammenhengen mellom yrkessegregering etter kjønn og arbeidsgiveres respons (callback) for mannlige og kvinnelige jobbsøkere. Vi finner merkbart lavere callback for mannlige jobbsøkere innen integrerte og kvinnedominerte yrker, mens vi ikke finner tilsvarende diskriminering av kvinnelige jobbsøkere i mannsdominerte yrker.

• Birkelund, Gunn Elisabeth; Lancee, Bram; Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Polavieja, Javier G; Randl, Jonas & Yemane, Ruta (2021). Gender Discrimination in Hiring: Evidence from a Cross-National Harmonized Field Experiment. European Sociological Review. 38(3), p. 337–354. doi: 10.1093/esr/jcab043. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract Gender discrimination is often regarded as an important driver of women’s disadvantage in the labour market, yet earlier studies show mixed results. However, because different studies employ different research designs, the estimates of discrimination cannot be compared across countries. By utilizing data from the first harmonized comparative field experiment on gender discrimination in hiring in six countries, we can directly compare employers’ callbacks to fictitious male and female applicants. The countries included vary in a number of key institutional, economic, and cultural dimensions, yet we found no sign of discrimination against women. This cross-national finding constitutes an important and robust piece of evidence. Second, we found discrimination against men in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK, and no discrimination against men in Norway and the United States. However, in the pooled data the gender gradient hardly differs across countries. Our findings suggest that although employers operate in quite different institutional contexts, they regard female applicants as more suitable for jobs in female-dominated occupations, ceteris paribus, while we find no evidence that they regard male applicants as more suitable anywhere.

• Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2020). Induced competition in matched correspondence tests: Conceptual and methodological considerations. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. 65, p. 1–11. doi: 10.1016/j.rssm.2020.100475. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Audit and correspondence studies are established as the dominant empirical strategy for examining the prevalence of hiring discrimination in labor markets. Historically, these studies are most often conducted as pairwise within-subject tests where one of the testers or applicants are exposed to the treatment of interest, while the other serves as a reference. In more recent studies, however, some scholars are moving towards the practice of sending only a single application per vacancy. This design choice is rarely discussed explicitly. Taking experiments on ethnic hiring discrimination as a case, I summarize the strengths, weaknesses and particular considerations associated with both approaches, by aid of a computational model comparing the two. The main argument I present is that the matched and unmatched designs differ in a more substantive way than what has been properly acknowledged in previous studies: Choice of design can potentially influence estimates, as the matched design induces competition affecting the callback probability of the treated candidates when applicant pools are small. I conclude that this is a potential weakness of the matched design, but that each design has multiple distinct advantages. While this study discusses experiments on hiring discrimination specifically, the main argument applies to similar contexts where one has to choose between matched and unmatched designs.

• Stasio, Valentina Di & Larsen, Edvard (2020). The Racialized and Gendered Workplace: Applying an Intersectional Lens to a Field Experiment on Hiring Discrimination in Five European Labor Markets. Social psychology quarterly. 83(3), p. 229–250. doi: 10.1177/0190272520902994. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We draw on a field experiment conducted in five European countries to analyze hiring discrimination on the basis of gender and race. We adopt an intersectional perspective and relate existing theories on gender and racial discrimination to recent work on the gendered stereotype content of different races. We find that employers prefer hiring white women over men for female-typed jobs. By contrast, women of color do not have any advantage over men of the same race. Moreover, black and Middle Eastern men encounter the strongest racial discrimination in male-typed jobs, where it is possible that their stereotyped masculinity, made salient by the occupational context, is perceived as threatening. Overall, we argue that the employment chances of applicants of different gender and racial backgrounds are highly dependent on their perceived congruence (or lack thereof) with the feminine or masculine traits of the job they apply to.

• Larsen, Edvard Nergård & Stasio, Valentina Di (2019). Pakistani in the UK and Norway: different contexts, similar disadvantage. Results from a comparative field experiment on hiring discrimination. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2019.1622777. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Experimental research on ethnic discrimination in labour markets is often concerned with individual-level mechanisms. Structural macro-level drivers of discrimination, however, are more difficult to address. We present the results of a harmonised correspondence test conducted in Norway and the UK, two contexts that differ significantly along several dimensions expected to matter for the prevalence of ethnic discrimination. We focus on discrimination towards a particular minority group that holds a socio-economically disadvantaged position in both national contexts: Pakistani migrants and their descendants. Based on differences in labour market flexibility and anti-discrimination policies, we expect there a lower level of discrimination than in Norway. In addition, colonial ties and a longer history of immigration in Britain could potentially reduce discriminatory behaviour towards ethnic minorities in general. We show that in both countries Pakistani applicants receive significantly fewer positive responses from employers than the majority group. In line with expectations, discrimination is more severe in Norway, although this cross-national difference is only statistically significant when using a strict definition of positive callbacks. More nuanced analyses reveal an additional negative effect of disclosing one’s affiliation to Islam, which further reduces the likelihood of Pakistani applicants to receive a callback in Norway.

• Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Rogne, Adrian Farner & Birkelund, Gunn Elisabeth (2018). Perfect for the Job? Overqualification of Immigrants and their Descendants in the Norwegian Labor Market. Social Inclusion. 6(3), p. 78–103. doi: 10.17645/si.v6i3.1451. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Compared to the majority population, studies have shown that non-western immigrants are more likely to work in jobs for which they are overqualified. These findings are based on coarse measures of jobs, and an important question is how sensitive these findings are to the definition of jobs. By using detailed information from Norwegian register data 2014, we provide a methodological innovation in comparing individuals working in the same occupation, industry, sector, firm, and municipality. In this way, we measure the degree of overqualification among workers within more than 653,000 jobs. We differentiate between immigrants and their descendants originating from Western Europe, the New EU countries, other Western countries, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Africa and Asia (except MENA countries), and South and Central America, and compare their outcomes with the majority population holding the same jobs. We find that immigrants from all country of origin groups are more likely to be overqualified compared to the majority population and to descendants of immigrants. However, the prevalence of overqualification decreases with time since immigration.

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• Orupabo, Julia; Drange, Ida; Larsen, Edvard Nergård & Nadim, Marjan (2026). Etnisk ulikhet i arbeidslivet. Arbeidstakeres erfaringer med diskriminering og arbeidsgiveres arbeid for inkludering. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I hvilken grad møter personer med etnisk minoritetsbakgrunn barrierer i det norske arbeidslivet? Det eksisterer etter hvert en omfattende forskningslitteratur som dokumenterer at det forekommer etnisk diskriminering i ansettelsesprosesser i det norske arbeidsmarkedet. Vi vet derimot mindre om omfanget av etnisk ulikhet i lønn og karriereutvikling, og hvilke former for diskriminering etniske minoriteter erfarer etter at de har sikret seg en jobb. I hvilken grad – og på hvilke måter – er det fortsatt en ulempe å ha en etnisk minoritetsbakgrunn etter ansettelse? I denne rapporten undersøker vi hvilken rolle det å ha en etnisk minoritetsbakgrunn spiller for arbeidstakeres inkludering i arbeidsmiljøet og karrieremuligheter i norsk arbeidsliv. Rapporten har et todelt formål. For det første analyserer vi arbeidstakeres erfaringer med etnisk diskriminering og omfanget av etnisk ulikhet i lønn, overkvalifisering og intern mobilitet etter ansettelse. For det andre undersøker vi hvilke tiltak arbeidsgivere iverksetter for å motvirke diskriminering, og hvordan de arbeider for å skape like muligheter og et mer inkluderende arbeidsliv. Rapporten svarer på disse spørsmålene gjennom å benytte et rikt tilfang av data, inkludert registerdata, surveydata, kvalitative intervjudata og tidligere forskning.

• Kitterød, Ragni Hege; Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Seehuus, Sara; Teigen, Mari & Wik, Åsa Martine Nygaard (2026). Likestillingslandet i endring: Polariserte holdninger og oppfatninger. Resultater fra CORE Survey 2025 – likestillingsundersøkelsen. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  CORE Survey – likestillingsundersøkelsen dekker et bredt spekter av oppfatninger om og holdninger til likestilling, både mer tradisjonelle og nye likestillingsspørsmål. Den første undersøkelsen ble gjennomført våren 2022, og den andre ble gjennomført våren 2025. Rapporten viser utvalgte resultater fra 2025-undersøkelsen. Til sammen har 4 375 personer i alderen 18–79 år svart på denne. Vi beskriver befolkningens syn på likestilling og undersøker hvordan dette henger sammen med kjønn, alder, utdanning, bosted, politisk stemmegivning med mer. Noen resultater blir sammenlignet med CORE Survey 2022 og med likelydende spørsmål som er stilt i andre undersøkelser tidligere.

• Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2024). Hva vet vi om klasse i akademia? Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Dette notatet har som siktemål å kartlegge empirisk kunnskap om sammenhengen mellom sosial bakgrunn og akademiske karrierer i Norge. Det finnes mye empirisk forskning, både i Norge og internasjonalt, på sammenhengen mellom høyere utdanning og sosial bakgrunn generelt, men til sammenlikning vet vi lite om hvordan sosial bakgrunn former tilgangen til akademiske karrierer. Denne gruppen er produsenter av kunnskap og verdensbilder, og derfor særlig viktig å beskrive fra et ulikhetsperspektiv. I notatet presenterer jeg en kartlegging av empirisk forskning, både kvalitativ og kvantitativ, fra de siste 20 årene. Norsk og nordisk forskning står særlig i fokus, men siden feltet er lite, trekker jeg også på funn fra internasjonal forskning. Kartleggingen bekrefter inntrykket av at det finnes lite empirisk kunnskap om hvordan sosial bakgrunn former akademiske karrierer, og tilnærmet ingen studier fra Norge. Sammenliknbar internasjonal forskning viser at det er grunn til å tro at sosial bakgrunn spiller en rolle igjennom hele utdanningsløpet, også helt inn i akademiske karrierer, men hvor i løpet ulikhet oppstår forblir et empirisk spørsmål for videre forskning. I oppsummeringen peker jeg på fruktbare veier å gå for studier i fremtiden, der behovet for mer kunnskap er stort.

• Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Madsen, Aleksander Å. & Hermansen, Are Skeie (2022). Blending in or moving on? Workplace ethnic diversity, immigrant assimilation, and employee turnover. SocArxiv. Full text in Research Archive
• Bangstad, Sindre; Rønningen, Netta Marie; Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Sandset, Tony Joakim Ananiassen & Massao, Prisca (2022). Kartlegging av rasisme og diskriminering i møte med Oslo kommune. KIFO. Full text in Research Archive

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• Rogne, Adrian Farner; Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Grødem, Anne Skevik & Kitterød, Ragni Hege (2026). Too old for the job? Two preregistered experiments on age bias in hiring. Full text in Research Archive
• Rogne, Adrian Farner; Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Grødem, Anne Skevik & Kitterød, Ragni Hege (2025). Alder ingen hindring? To forhåndsregistrerte eksperimenter om aldersdiskriminering. Full text in Research Archive
• Ski-Berg, Veronica; Ingeborgrud, Lina; Kindt, Marianne Takvam & Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2025). Rasisme og diskriminering – hvordan forske på dette i skole og arbeidsliv? doi: https:/play.pod.space/kunnskapsfloker/kunnskapsfloker-s2e4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I denne episoden av NIFUs podkastserie Kunnskapsfloker ser vi nærmere på rasisme og diskriminering i samfunnet, både i skolen og i arbeidslivet. I episoden dykker vi ned i hvordan ungdommer forstår rasisme i skolehverdagen og hvordan det forskes på diskriminering i arbeidslivet. Vi snakker blant annet om norsk lovverk, utvikling av ordkultur i skolen og mulige fordommer i arbeidslivet, og diskuterer hvorfor det kan være så komplisert å forske på rasisme og diskriminering. Gjester i episoden er Marianne Takvam Kindt, forsker ved NIFU, og Edvard Nergård Larsen, forsker ved Institutt for samfunnsforskning (ISF). Programledere er Veronica Ski-Berg og Lina Ingeborgrud fra NIFU.

• Birkelund, Gunn Elisabeth; Reisel, Liza & Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2024). Forskere: Kvinner diskrimineres ikke lenger i ansettelsesprosesser. [Journal]. Morgenbladet. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2023). Diskriminering i møte med Oslo Kommune. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Kotsadam, Andreas & Hermansen, Are Skeie (2023). What characterizes firms that discriminate? Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Madsen, Aleksander Å. & Hermansen, Are Skeie (2023). Blending In or Moving On? Workplace Ethnic Diversity, Immigrant Assimilation, and Employee Turnover. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2022). NSA Presentation: Which employers discriminate, and which do not? Estimating heterogeneity in hiring discrimination using registry-linked experimental data and honest causal forests. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2022). ISF Presentation: Which employers do (not) discriminate? Estimating heterogeneity in ethnic hiring discrimination. Full text in Research Archive
• Crabtree, Charles; Gaddis, S. Michael; Holbein, John & Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2022). Racially Distinctive Names Signal Both Race/Ethnicity and Social Class. Sociological Science. Full text in Research Archive
• Gaddis, S. Michael; Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Crabtree, Charles & Holbein, John (2022). Discrimination Against Black and Hispanic Americans is Highest in Hiring and Housing Contexts: A Meta-Analysis of Correspondence Audits. Social Science Research Network (SSRN). Full text in Research Archive
• Birkelund, Gunn Elisabeth & Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2021). Ingen tegn til diskriminering av kvinner i Norge. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2021). ECSR presentation: Leaving or staying? Workplace minority presence and employee turnover. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Edvard & Madsen, Aleksander Å. (2021). RC28 presentation: Leaving or staying? Workplace minority presence and employee turnover. Full text in Research Archive
• Crabtree, Charles; Gaddis, S. Michael; Holbein, John & Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2021). Changes in the Amount and Type of Social Science Research on Discrimination: 1950 to 2015. Social Science Research Network (SSRN). Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Edvard Nergård; Rogne, Adrian Farner & Birkelund, Gunn Elisabeth (2018). Perfect for the Job? Overqualification of Immigrants and their Descendants in the Norwegian Labor Market. Full text in Research Archive
• Lillehagen, Mats & Larsen, Edvard Nergård (2017). Do co-ethnic networks affect job opportunities of children of immigrants? Identifying peer effects in neighborhoods. Full text in Research Archive

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