Language status, sexual orientation, and comprehensibility predict the employability of gay- and straight-sounding first- and second-language speakers

Abstract Many people experience workplace-related biases because of how they speak, which stems from listener processes including social categorization (placing speakers into groups), stereotyping (forming simplified beliefs about speakers), and processing (dis)fluency (struggling to understand speakers). However, it is unclear how these processes account for evaluations of speakers with intersecting, voice-cued identities across different job contexts. We recruited 192 listeners to assess the employability of men whose speech marks them as first (L1) or second (L2) language speakers and as gay- or straight-sounding men. The speakers were presented as applicants for jobs considered gay- or straight-typed and involving high or low communication demands. Besides employability, listeners evaluated speakers’ sexual orientation and ease of understanding (comprehensibility as processing fluency). Straight-sounding L1 speakers received the highest employability ratings, followed by straight-sounding L2 speakers and gay-sounding L1 speakers, with gay-sounding L2 speakers ranked lowest. Processing fluency mediated the effect of language status, with L1 speakers rated as more employable partly because they were more comprehensible. Job communication demands (but not job stereotypicality) interacted with speaker effects, where L1 and straight-sounding speakers were perceived as more employable in low-communication jobs. We discuss how speaker identity, job context, and listener experience shape evaluations.