Interviewers' perceptions of person–organization fit and organizational selection decisions.

Amodel of person–organization fit and organizational hiring decisions is developed and tested, using data from 38 interviewers making hiring decisions about 93 applicants. Results suggest that interviewers can assess applicant–organization values congruence with significant levels of accuracy and that interviewers compare their perceptions of applicants' values with their organizations' values to assess person–organization fit. Results also suggested that interviewers' subjective person–organization fit assessments have large effects on their hiring recommendations relative to competing applicant characteristics, and that interviewers' hiring recommendations directly affect organizations' hiring decisions (e.g., job offers). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Making those who cannot see look best: Effects of visual resume formatting on ratings of job applicants with blindness.

Objective: Although general attitudes toward individuals with disabilities are often positive, these perceptions do not always lead to equal footing in the hiring process. This study examined stereotypes of job applicants perceived to be blind and the role of applicant blindness in hireability ratings made by human resource managers. Specifically, we highlighted a unique challenge for individuals who cannot see: the visual formatting of resumes. Design: Human resource managers (N = 249) evaluated the visually formatted or unformatted resumes of hypothetical job applicants who were portrayed as blind or sighted and rated applicant hireability and personality characteristics. Results: Although applicants perceived to be blind were perceived as more conscientious and agreeable by human resource managers, these positive evaluations did not translate into favorable hireability evaluations. Conclusion: Because human resource managers severely penalize applicants who do not attend to visual, nonfunctional resume presentation, applicants who cannot see are apt to find themselves disadvantaged in the hiring process. The implications of these findings for organizations, job seekers, and rehabilitation professionals are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of automatic obesity stereotypes in real hiring discrimination.

This study examined whether automatic stereotypes captured by the implicit association test (IAT) can predict real hiring discrimination against the obese. In an unobtrusive field experiment, job applications were sent to a large number of real job vacancies. The applications were matched on credentials but differed with respect to the applicant's weight. Discriminatory behavior was quantified by the extent to which the hiring managers invited normal-weight versus obese applicants to a job interview. Several months after the behavioral data were obtained, the hiring managers completed an obesity IAT and explicit hiring preference measures. Only the IAT scores reliably predicted interview decisions. More specifically, hiring managers holding more negative automatic stereotypes about the obese were less likely to invite an obese applicant for an interview. The present research is the first to show that automatic bias predicts labor market discrimination against obese individuals. Practical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Effect of Applicant Influence Tactics on Recruiter Perceptions of Fit and Hiring Recommendations: A Field Study.

The present study examined the effect of applicant influence-tactic use on recruiter perceptions of fit. Two tactics, ingratiation and self-promotion, were expected to have positive effects on recruiter perceptions of fit and on recruiter hiring recommendations. In addition, the authors expected recruiter fit perceptions to mediate the relationship between applicant influence tactics and recruiter hiring recommendations. Results suggested that ingratiation had a positive effect on perceived fit and recruiter hiring recommendations (and indirectly, on receipt of a job offer). In addition, perceived fit mediated the relationship between ingratiation and hiring recommendations. The effects of self-promotion on fit and hiring recommendations were generally weak and nonsignificant. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applicant Attraction to Organizations and Job Choice: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Correlates of Recruiting Outcomes.

Attracting high-performing applicants is a critical component of personnel selection and overall organizational success. In this study, the authors meta-analyzed 667 coefficients from 71 studies examining relationships between various predictors with job-organization attraction, job pursuit intentions, acceptance intentions, and job choice. The moderating effects of applicant gender, race, and applicant versus nonapplicant status were also examined. Results showed that applicant attraction outcomes were predicted by job-organization characteristics, recruiter behaviors, perceptions of the recruiting process, perceived fit, and hiring expectancies, but not recruiter demographics or perceived alternatives. Path analyses showed that applicant attitudes and intentions mediated the predictor-job choice relationships. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for recruiting theory, research, and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of procedural and distributive justice on reactions to a selection system.

Procedural and distributive justice were examined in an employee selection situation. Along procedural justice dimensions, job relatedness of and explanation offered for the selection procedures were manipulated. Distributive justice was examined through manipulation of a selection decision and collection of a priori hiring expectations. Dependent measures included fairness reactions, recommendation intentions, self-efficacy, and actual work performance. Undergraduates (n?=?260) were selected/rejected for paid employment. Job relatedness influenced performance and interacted with selection decision on perceptions of distributive fairness and self-efficacy. Explanations influenced recommendations of rejected applicants. Interactions between hiring expectations and selection decision were observed on perceived fairness and recommendation intentions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consequences of organizational justice expectations in a selection system.

This study examined several consequences of applicants' expectations of organizational justice at multiple stages in a selection process. The authors assessed the justice expectations of 1,832 job applicants prior to their participation in a testing process and examined how these expectations influenced their pretest attitudes and intentions as well as their perceptions of the testing process. Results revealed that applicants with higher expectations of justice reported higher levels of pretest motivation and more positive job acceptance and recommendation intentions. Justice expectations were also positively related to applicants' perceptions of justice in the testing process. Results provided some evidence that justice expectations have a moderating influence, such that justice perceptions have a greater influence on applicants' affective and cognitive states when expectations of justice are high. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in the context of research on organizational justice and applicant perceptions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Moderating Effect of Negative Affectivity in the Procedural Justice-Job Satisfaction Relation.

We examined the potential moderating effect of negative affectivity in the relation between perceptions of procedural justice and job satisfaction in two studies. In the first study, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 232 individuals working for a Canadian public-sector organization that was being partially privatized. In the second study, we conducted a two-wave panel study of 173 university students participating in a co-operative education work term. In both studies, we found that the relation between procedural justice and job satisfaction was stronger for those who were low in negative affectivity than for those who were high in negative affectivity. These findings support the notion that employee dispositions influence the manner in which organizational factors are perceived. In addition, these findings suggest that fair procedures do not uniformly result in positive organizational outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal assessment of applicant reactions to employment testing and test outcome feedback.

Following a justice framework, the present study examined actual candidates taking selection tests to gain full-time employment. The reactions of 144 applicants for an entry-level accounting job were examined in a real employment testing context at 3 time periods: before testing, after testing but before feedback on whether they passed or failed the test, and after test performance feedback. With controls for pretest perceptions, several of the 5 procedural justice measures (information known about the test, chance to perform, treatment at the test site, consistency of the test administration, and job relatedness) predicted applicant evaluations regarding the organization, perceptions of employment testing, and applicant test-taking self-efficacy. Test outcome favorability (passing or failing the employment test) predicted outcomes beyond initial reactions more consistently than procedural justice perceptions. Procedural justice perceptions explained incremental variance in some analyses after the influence of outcome favorability was controlled. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Well-connected leaders: The impact of leaders' social network ties on LMX and members' work attitudes.

We examined the proposition that leaders' social network ties in the larger organization influence the quality of their leader–member exchange (LMX) with their employees, which, in turn, impacts these employees' job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Using multilevel, multisource data from a field study of 184 bank employees nested within 42 branch managers, we found that leaders who had higher quality relationships with their bosses and who were more central in their peer networks were perceived by their subordinates as having greater status in the organization and, therefore, were able to form higher quality relationships with them. Further, the effects of the leaders' perceived status on LMX were stronger when subordinates were less central in their own peer network. Finally, LMX mediated the impact of leaders' perceived status in the organization on subordinates' job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job strain, social support and mental health: a study on the male heavy manufacturing workers

OBJECT: The aim of this study is to explore the influence of work experience on workers' psychological function. Specifically, the researchers will examine the effect of job demand, decision latitude, job strain, and social support at worksite on the mental health status of male heavy manufacturing workers. METHOD: By purposive sampling, from October 1994 to March 1995, the present investigators implemented a self-administered questionnaire survey on the workers in southern Taiwan. The Karasek job strain model and its measure were embedded in the questionnaire to evaluate workers' perceptions of their job conditions. In addition, Chinese Health Questionnaire (CHQ) was utilized to evaluate the workers' status of mental health. RESULT: Totally, 1,117 workers were selected for this survey. An unviriate analysis showed the younger the workers, the lower their monthly income, and the newer their employment, were more likely to be classified as high risk in mental health status. The workers with more decision latitude and higher social support would be better in mental health status. In addition, it also showed that workers under high job strain were more likely to be in poor mental health status. Result from multivariate logistic regression showed those who served longer, had more decision automony, and had higher social support, were less likely to be in poor mental health status. Instead, those who sustained high job strain were more likely to be in poor mental health status. DISCUSSION: The implication from those findings for the implementation of health promotion program. would be raised, and the limitation of this inference would also be discussed.     

Trait bandwidth and stages of job performance: Assessing differential effects for conscientiousness and its subtraits.

This study examined relationships with job performance at different stages of employee tenure for a broad personality measure (conscientiousness) and 2 more narrow subtraits (order and achievement). Applicants for a sales position were given a personality test as part of the hiring process. 85 of these applicants were eventually employed and participated in the study. 98 sales representatives who had previously been hired were also given the personality measure and participated in the study. Conscientiousness exhibited a consistent relationship with performance for employees in both the transition stage (newly hired employees) and the maintenance stage (veteran employees). In contrast, the more narrow subtraits exhibited differential relationships. Order correlated more strongly with performance in the transition stage, whereas achievement correlated more strongly in the maintenance stage. In the respective samples, order and achievement also provided incremental validity beyond conscientiousness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Need for achievement and women's careers over 14 years: Evidence for occupational structure effects.

Achievement motivation was measured in 117 women as college seniors and again 14 years later. Senior-year achievement motivation predicted later employment in teaching (including college). Career-involved women who had been highly achievement-motivated in college valued status mobility and working with people and reported job satisfaction from competition with a standard of excellence; however, women in different career situations differed in the relations between their achievement motivation in college and their later work values, job perceptions, and sources of satisfaction. Women highly achievement-motivated in adulthood valued achievement-congenial working conditions and status mobility and described job satisfaction from competition with a standard of excellence, especially if they were supervisors. Professors and businesswomen showed larger increases in achievement motivation over 14 years than did women otherwise employed. Thus, achievement motivation predicts women's career outcomes when their values and work situations, along with sex-differentiated occupational structures, are considered. Occupational structure effects on motives over time are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational rewards and retention of the hard-core unemployed.

Studied the relationship between 4 organizational rewards (pay, job status, promotion, and job security) and the retention of the hard-core unemployed (HCU), using data from 114 firms involved in hiring the HCU. The level of pay and the structure of raises positively affected retention, as did promotional opportunities (the percentage of minority members in supervisory positions). In firms with primarily minority members in the work force, the greater the percentage of minority supervisors the higher the HCU retention, but in primarily White firms the opposite relationship occurred. Job status and job security also were related to retention. Based on the relative effects of program characteristics (e.g., training) and organization characteristics (e.g., pay), recommendations are made for increased emphasis on organizational factors in developing strategies for employing the HCU. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bias against overweight job applicants in a simulated employment interview.

This study assessed whether moderately obese individuals, especially women, would be discriminated against in a mock employment interview. Potential confounding factors were controlled by having 320 Ss rate videotapes of a job interview that used the same professional actors appearing as normal weight or made up to appear overweight by the use of theatrical prostheses. Results suggested that bias against hiring overweight job applicants does exist, especially for female applicants. Bias was most pronounced when applicants were rated by Ss who were satisfied with their bodies and for whom perceptions of their bodies were central to self-concept. The decision not to hire an obese applicant was, however, only partially mediated by personality attributions. Implications and limitations of these results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal behavior in a changing organization.

Developed an instrument assessing organization members' perceptions of their own interpersonal behavior and applied it in a study of staff reorganization in a mental hospital to test hypotheses that reactions differed between job levels, similar organizational units, and times of measurement. Analysis of variance showed consistent significant differences between job levels but no consistent differences between similar units or times of measurement. Existence of many stable emergent organizational characteristics were not demonstrated; instead the data were viewed as a demonstration of the effects of bureaucratic control. Reliability and validity of the approach are considered promising. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multidimensional mapping of the correlates of job involvement.

Examined the relationship between job involvement and individual, situational, and work outcome variables. The analysis is based on data collected from 387 employees of a nonunion ore processing plant. Scales assessed job involvement, perceptions of the supervisor, job characteristics (JCs), role ambiguity, role conflict, organization commitment, burnout, desire to leave, and job satisfaction. The scales were mapped in 2 dimensions, using a monotonic multidimensional scaling of the codetermination matrix. The relative positions of the scales of the map indicated that JCs, including variety, autonomy, task identity, and feedback, play an important role in facilitating involvement in one's job. Supervisors who are seen as trusting, innovative, fair, and cohesive, and who positively reinforce subordinates for a job well done, may also play a role in developing a climate that fosters involvement. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Role of Job Security in Understanding the Relationship Between Employees' Perceptions of Temporary Workers and Employees' Performance.

On the basis of psychological contract and social cognition theories, the authors explored the role of full-time employees' perceived job security in explaining their reactions to the use of temporary workers by using a sample of 149 full-time employees who worked with temporaries. As hypothesized, employees' perceived job security negatively related to their perceptions that temporaries pose a threat to their jobs, but it did not relate to their perceptions that temporaries are beneficial. Furthermore, employees' job security moderated the relationships between benefit and threat perceptions and supervisor ratings of job performance. For those with high job security, there was a positive relationship between benefit perceptions and performance. For those with low job security, there was a negative relationship between threat perceptions and performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)