Unpacking an Employment-Wage Puzzle: Ban-the-Box Hiring Policies, Sorting, & Job Quality for those with and without Criminal Records

Outside of specific contexts, such as technology policy or international business, management scholars’ engagement with research on policy efficacy* is inconsistent, even when policies have direct implications for organizations and organizational members. Traditionally, we have been more likely to exploit policy changes for research design purposes rather than directly examine policy efficacy. In this preliminary research, we examine the Ban-the-Box (BTB) policy, which, similar to many policies, may have unintended consequences for the employers and potential employees that it was designed to influence. At the same time, research on BTB's efficacy is mixed, with the most convincing research suggesting that policymakers should be wary of the policy's effect. We replicate findings that point to an unintended consequence but then take steps to unpack geographic variance in the effect of BTB. This variance points to a need to better appreciate how regional differences in structural factors (such as residential segregation) affect whether BTB is successful. We then propose some next steps to advance this early-stage research, and offer our thoughts on how our work has the potential to serve as a model for management scholars who work on topics with policy implications.