This study examines the effects of demographic characteristics of arbitrators on arbitration outcomes in the Canadian university sector. More specifically, we attempt to explain whether five characteristics of arbitrators (their experiences in law, management, and union affairs as well as their age and gender) could significantly determine how they adjudicate in cases heard in labor relations tribunals. Therefore, we examine whether the five aforementioned characteristics, as the group of independent variables, could significantly determine the variations of two dependent variables, namely the outcome of the arbitration procedure and compensation of any damages- interests.

The study’s methodology favors a hypothetico-deductive approach and quantitative methods. Specifically, after defining the research hypotheses, raw data of arbitration outcomes in the university sector was collected from the CANLII.org website. The latter provides access to the decisions of all Canadian arbitration tribunals, including provincial labour relations boards. Each case of study consisted of a specific arbitration outcome. Raw data (comprising 284 and 258 valid cases in both models) were entered into SPSS software and then analyzed using logistic regression techniques.

The results of the analyses demonstrate that the aforementioned characteristics of arbitrators (as a group of variables) could, to different degrees, significantly impact their decisions as well as the damages they award to plaintiffs. Particularly, the age of the arbitrators and their experiences in the management field contributed the most in both logistic regression models while the gender of the arbitrators showed the least impact in both models. These results show that despite certain presumptions about the impartiality of arbitrators, there are demographic factors that could lead them to particular forms of judgment.