Eva Derous

When selection ratios are high: predicting the expatriation willingness of prospective domestic entry-level job applicants

High expatriate selection ratios thwart the ability of multinational organizations to select expatriates. Reducing the selection ratio may be accomplished by selecting those applicants for entry level domestic positions who have expatriate aspirations. Regression analyses conducted on data from a sample of 299 Dutch students about to enter the job market indicated that 20 predictors subsumed under the Five Factor Model, core self-evaluations, expatriate specific predictors, and biodata account for 50% of the variance in expatriation willingness. The predictors were ordered relative to their increasing alignment with expatriation willingness in terms of the action, target, context, and time elements reflected in Ajzens (1988, 1991) principle of correspondence. Dominance and relative weights analysis provided strong support for the hypothesis that greater alignment on these elements translates into greater predictive power, with biodata emerging as the most powerful predictor set, followed by expatriate specific predictors, the Five Factor Model, and finally core self-evaluations.

Ethnic discrimination during résumé screening: Interactive effects of applicants’ ethnic salience with job context

Systematic research considering job context as affecting ethnic discrimination in hiring is limited. Building on contemporary literature on social categorization and cognitive matching, the interactive effect of context characteristics (client contact; industry status) and person characteristics (i.e. ethnic cues: Maghreb/Arab vs Flemish-sounding name; dark vs light skin tone) were investigated using an experimental field study among 424 white majority HR professionals. Findings showed that equally qualified applicants with a dark skin tone received lower job suitability ratings than applicants with a light skin tone, particularly when they were screened for high client contact/low industry status positions and low client contact/high industry status positions. It is concluded that some ethnic cues (such as skin tone) may be more salient compared with other cues and that job context may influence the salience of ethnic cues and steer hiring discrimination in subtle ways. Implications of these findings for hiring discrimination research and organizations are discussed.

Often biased but rarely in doubt: How initial reactions to stigmatized applicants affect interviewer confidence

ABSTRACT Building on a metacognitive framework of heuristic judgments, we investigate the effect of applicant stigma on interviewers’ overconfidence in their (biased) judgments. There were 193 experienced interviewers conducting a face-to-face interview with an applicant who was facially stigmatized or not, and who was visible (traditional interview) or not (partially blind interview), to the interviewer during the rapport-building stage. In traditional interviews, interview judgments of stigmatized applicants were negatively biased, and interviewers reported overconfidence in these judgments. This effect was partially mediated by the interviewer’s professional performance during rapport building. Interview procedure moderated both the direct and indirect effect (through professional performance) of applicant stigma on interviewer confidence. Results show that interviewer (over)confidence in biased judgments is driven by the initial effects of, and reactions to, the stigmatized applicant.

Modeling the structure of applicant reactions: An empirical study within the Belgian military.

This article describes the modeling of applicant reactions within the Belgian military. In a preparatory phase, 250 applicants were interviewed about the three-hurdle hiring procedure of the military. Content analysis resulted in an initial model with 221 applicant-generated items. Subsequently, an expert analysis was performed to validate the models underlying structure. Fifty-three military field experts (e.g., recruiters) sorted the items and labeled each Q-sort according to its underlying meaning. Multi-dimensional scaling and additive tree modeling revealed a two-dimensional solution for the first and second selection hurdle and a three-dimensional solution for the third hurdle. Interpretative analyses were performed on the labeling of the Q-sorts. Both the graphic MDS solution and labeling came close to the theoretical categories of the initial model. Besides generic categories, very context-specific also categories emerged. Specifically, the study shows “differentiation” as an important but rather underrepresented dimension. Methodological, theoretical, and practical relevance of study findings are discussed.

Getting the Words Right: When Wording of Job Ads Affects Ethnic Minorities’ Application Decisions:

Targeted recruitment strategies aim to communicate job vacancies to specific groups of job seekers that organizations wish to attract, such as qualified ethnic minorities. Typically, these strategies do not consider how person requirements are communicated in job advertisements and how job seekers from different ethnic groups react to such requirements. Two field experiments among actual job seekers investigated whether the type of required trait and the wording of traits affected ethnic minorities’ job attraction (Study 1, N = 140) and qualified ethnic minorities’ and majorities’ decision to apply (Study 2, N = 130). Findings show that ethnic minority job seekers were less attracted to job ads targeting a trait they have negative meta-stereotypes about. Wording of traits did not moderate this effect. However, ethnic minority job seekers who were qualified for a negatively meta-stereotyped trait decided not to apply when that trait was worded in a dispositional (vs. a behavioral) way.

Implicit Age Cues in Resumes: Subtle Effects on Hiring Discrimination

Anonymous resume screening, as assumed, does not dissuade age discriminatory effects. Building on job market signaling theory, this study investigated whether older applicants may benefit from concealing explicitly mentioned age signals on their resumes (date of birth) or whether more implicit/subtle age cues on resumes (older-sounding names/old-fashioned extracurricular activities) may lower older applicants’ hirability ratings. An experimental study among 610 HR professionals using a mixed factorial design showed hiring discrimination of older applicants based on implicit age cues in resumes. This effect was more pronounced for older raters. Concealing one’s date of birth led to overall lower ratings. Study findings add to the limited knowledge on the effects of implicit age cues on hiring discrimination in resume screening and the usefulness of anonymous resume screening in the context of age. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Highlighting Tensions in Recruitment and Selection Research and Practice

In this article we highlight five tensions that exist in recruitment and selection (R&S) research and practice today and that are centered around the ‘efficiency press’ and so called ‘research–practice’ gap. Identified tensions are desires for (1) innovation and efficiency, (2) customization and consistency, (3) transparency and effectiveness, (4) wide‐reach and coherence, and (5) diversity and standardization. Each tension is illustrated with findings from the five studies of this Special Issue that were presented at the third meeting of the European Network of Selection Researchers (August 2014), and supplemented with empirical data on the research–practice gap in R&S (period 2009–2013). We consider how we might move forward in addressing the ‘efficiency press’ in research as well as managing these tensions in practice.

Psychological predictors of cultural diversity support at work

Objectives: As diversity management activities become more prominent worldwide it is important to understand psychological reactions to them to ensure success, but empirical evidence is lacking. This study investigated employees’ and managers’ intentions and behavior to promote cultural diversity at work in a variety of organizations in the Netherlands, using Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior. Method: Predictors of intentions to promote cultural diversity at work (N = 670) and actual behavior after 6 months were assessed among managers and employees using self-reports in a 2-wave survey design. Participants’ average age at Time 1 was 38.26 years (SD = 11.86), 56% was female, and there were 78.1% Dutch ethnic majority and 21.9% ethnic minority participants. Results: Attitude to cultural diversity promotion at work and perceived behavioral control (PBC) related positively to both individuals’ intentions to promote cultural diversity at work, which in turn predicted behavior. The strongest driver, however, was attitude. Managers’ reported PBC and behavior were higher compared to employees. Conclusions: This study supported the applicability of the theory of planned behavior to predict intentions and behavior to promote cultural diversity at work. With an increasingly diverse workforce, this study aimed to advance our understanding of drivers of individual reactions and behavior to support cultural diversity at work.

Culture and Testing Practices: Is the world flat?

There has been much speculation regarding the influence of cultural norms on the acceptance and use of personnel selection testing. This study examined the cross-level direct effects of four societal cultural variables (performance orientation, future orientation, uncertainty avoidance, and tightness–looseness) on selection practices of organisations in 23 countries. A total of 1,153 HR professionals responded to a survey regarding testing practices in hiring contexts. Overall, little evidence of a connection between cultural practices and selection practices emerged. Implications of these findings for personnel selection and cross-cultural research as well as directions for future work in this area are described.

Ethnic Minorities’ Impression Management in the Interview: Helping or Hindering?

Cross-cultural impression management (IM) has not been considered much, which is remarkable given the fast rate at which the labor market is becoming multicultural. This study investigated whether ethnic minorities and majorities differed in their preference for IM-tactics and how this affected ethnic minorities’ interview outcomes. A preliminary study (focus groups/survey) showed that ethnic minorities (i.e., Arab/Moroccans) preferred ‘entitlements’ whereas majorities (i.e., Flemish/Belgians) preferred ‘opinion conformity’ as IM-tactics. An experimental follow-up study among 163 ethnic majority raters showed no main effect of IM-tactics on interview ratings. Ethnic minorities’ use of IM-tactics only affected interview ratings if rater characteristics were considered. Specifically, interview ratings were higher when ethnic minorities used opinion conformity (i.e., majority-preferred IM-tactic) and lower when minorities used entitlements (i.e., minority-preferred IM-tactic) if recruiters were high in social dominance orientation, and when they felt more experienced/proficient with interviewing. IM-tactics are a human capital factor that might help applicants to increase their job chances on the labor market. It is concluded that ethnic minority applicants’ preferences for certain IM-tactics might lead to bias even in structured interview settings, but that this depends on ethnic majority recruiters’ interview experience and ingroup/outgroup attitudes. Implications for research and practice are discussed.