The Hidden Curriculum of Arbitrator Training: A Comparative Analysis of Private and State-Run Arbitration Hearings

• In Event: 1142 - Law and Organizations

Abstract

This article demonstrates that arbitration system design and the training arbitrators receive shape the extent to which repeat players gain advantages in arbitration hearings. Whereas prior arbitration research suggests arbitrator training matters, this is the first article to show how it matters because we observe actual arbitration hearings in private and state-run arbitration systems in two states. Our comparative analysis draws on and links three literatures with an interest in how seemingly interest-neutral institutions like disputing forums serve in practice to reinforce dominant norms, values, and hierarchies: (1) socio-legal studies of repeat player advantages in disputing; (2) neo-institutional organizational sociology studies of how managerial values influence the way organizations construct law; and (3) studies of hidden curriculum in educational settings. We bridge these literatures by showing how the hidden curriculum arbitrators receive in private arbitration forums is a primary mechanism through which managerial values influence the arbitration process and consequently, provides a pathway for repeat player advantages in hearings. Because our analysis compares two distinct arbitration systems, we identify variation in these processes and offer preliminary but tangible recommendations for the design and implementation of arbitration systems that best protect civil and consumer rights within arbitral forums that the Supreme Court continually upholds.

Author

• Shauhin Ahmadi Talesh, University of California, Irvine