Klaus Moser

Recruiting Employees. Individual and Organisational Perspectives

Introduction Generating Applicants Maintaining Applicant Status Influencing Job Choice Does Recruitment Matter? The Organizations Perspective Toward an Agenda for Recruitment Research

Effects of networking on career success: a longitudinal study.

Previous research has reported effects of networking, defined as building, maintaining, and using relationships, on career success. However, empirical studies have relied exclusively on concurrent or retrospective designs that rest upon strong assumptions about the causal direction of this relation and depict a static snapshot of the relation at a given point in time. This study provides a dynamic perspective on the effects of networking on career success and reports results of a longitudinal study. Networking was assessed with 6 subscales that resulted from combining measures of the facets of (a) internal versus external networking and (b) building versus maintaining versus using contacts. Objective (salary) and subjective (career satisfaction) measures of career success were obtained for 3 consecutive years. Multilevel analyses showed that networking is related to concurrent salary and that it is related to the growth rate of salary over time. Networking is also related to concurrent career satisfaction. As satisfaction remained stable over time, no effects of networking on the growth of career satisfaction were found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Self-Other Agreement in Job Performance Ratings : A Meta-Analytic Test of a Process Model

This meta-analysis explores agreement in self- and supervisory ratings of job performance (k = 128 independent samples). It suggests a 3-stage model of the rating process and reviews the empirical evidence for the relevance of each of these 3 stages to an understanding of agreement in ratings. The proposed 3-stage model serves as the guiding rationale for the examination of an extensive set of variables that moderate rater agreement. Results are reported for 2 indicators of rater agreement (correlational and mean-level agreement). Self-supervisor ratings yielded an overall correlation of .22 (rho = .34; k = 115; n = 37,752). Position characteristics and the use of nonjudgmental performance indicators were the main moderators. Leniency in self-ratings is indicated by higher mean levels of self-ratings compared with supervisory ratings. Within Western samples, performance self-ratings showed leniency (d = 0.32, Delta = .49; k = 89; n = 35,417) dependent on contextual features, scale format, and scale content.

Incongruence as an explanation for the negative mental health effects of unemployment: Meta-analytic evidence

The present paper is concerned with the effects of incongruence between a persons level of employment commitment (measured with scales of work involvement, Protestant work ethic or similar concepts) and his or her current employment situation (employed or not employed). We hypothesize that this kind of incongruence (a) is a typical characteristic of the unemployment situation and (b) is systematically associated with diminished well-being and mental health. Meta-analyses of empirical data endorse both hypotheses. (a) Employed people show only marginally stronger levels of employment commitment than unemployed people (d = 0.11, equivalent to r = .05). Both groups are characterized by high mean levels of employment commitment. Therefore, unemployed people are in an incongruent situation, while employed people are not. (b) Incongruent levels of employment commitment, that is, high levels among the unemployed and low levels among the employed, are significantly associated with psychological distress (mixed symptoms of distress: r = .19; depression: r = .19; anxiety: r = .14; subjective well-being/life satisfaction: r = .13; self-esteem: r = .08). In sum, available cross-sectional data clearly endorse the incongruence model. Meta-analyses of longitudinal data, although based on small sample sizes, are also consistent with the model.

Coping with information overload in email communication: Evaluation of a training intervention

The present paper introduces three facets of information overload in email communication: A large amount of incoming information, inefficient workflow, and deficient communication quality. In order to cope with these facets of information overload, a training intervention was developed and evaluated. Data were collected from 90 employees on several evaluation levels within a longitudinal evaluation design (one pretest double posttest design). The results reveal that the training contributed to an increase in knowledge and media competencies. We also found evidence for a transfer of training contents to the workplace. Finally, strain diminished on several dimensions. In particular, problems with media usage and work impairment decline significantly, an effect that was stronger for those participants who face a large amount of email at their workplaces.

Dissemination of precision farming in Germany: acceptance, adoption, obstacles, knowledge transfer and training activities

The adoption of precision farming (PF) was studied on the basis of personal interviews conducted at several agricultural exhibitions in Germany. Between 6.65% and 11% of the interviewed farmers used PF. The majority used data collection techniques such as GPS-based area measurement and soil sampling rather than variable rate application techniques such as site-specific sowing and fertilising. Roughly half the farmers interviewed knew about PF. About 7–10% of them intended to start using PF in the future. The results indicated that a large number of farmers did not even know what PF meant. In order to get more insight into this situation, several interviews were conducted with farmers already using PF techniques. A further study in 2005 of PF education in Germany indicated that, especially at vocational and technical schools, the subject was only covered to a small extent although the aim was to give a better coverage in future. At higher education levels, such as at universities and technical colleges, the teaching of PF was clearly better established. In order to promote awareness of PF among farmers, information and teaching materials adapted to the relevant educational levels were developed and tried out at training events. The main topics addressed were parallel tracking systems, site-specific nitrogen fertilising, yield mapping in grain production and the use of PDAs in crop farming. Finally, preliminary survey results are presented showing how knowledge about PF can best lead to its adoption and transfer into daily practice.

Latent Deprivation among People who Are Employed, Unemployed, or Out of the Labor Force

Using a Web-based survey, the authors tested M. Jahodas (1981, 1982, 1997) latent deprivation model among employed, unemployed, and out-of-the-labor-force (OLF) people. The model predicted that employment is the main provider of 5 specific subconstructs of experience important to mental health: time structure, social contact, collective purpose, status, and activity. As expected, deprivation of these latent functions correlated with distress not only among employed and unemployed people, but also among OLF people. OLF people reported significantly more latent deprivation than did employed people, but they reported significantly less latent deprivation than did unemployed people. Furthermore, latent deprivation mediated the negative effects of unemployment and OLF status on mental health. When the authors statistically controlled the influence of manifest deprivation, the effect of latent deprivation on mental health remained stable.

Web-based mood induction

This article introduces the methodology of Web-based mood induction and it presents empirical evidence for its feasibility. The Velten procedure, autobiographical recall, and mood-suggestive photographs were tested for their effectiveness in evoking either a positive or a negative mood when compared to an untreated control group. The Velten technique and the photographs successfully deteriorated mood, but were unsuccessful in generating a positive mood. Autobiographical recall failed to induce either positive or negative mood. The effectiveness of these on-line techniques is compared with the effectiveness of similar off-line mood induction procedures.

Entwicklung und Validierung einer Networkingskala

Zusammenfassung. Networking umschreibt ein Syndrom von Verhaltensweisen, die Personen zu Aufbau, Pflege und Nutzung sozialer Beziehungen im beruflichen Kontext zeigen. Die Relevanz des Konstrukts beruht auf dem vermuteten positiven Einfluss, den Networking auf den beruflichen Erfolg ausubt. In diesem Beitrag wird auf der Basis der psychologischen Literatur zu Networking und der soziologischen Literatur zu sozialem Kapital eine Networkingskala entwickelt und in insgesamt drei Studien werden Struktur und Validitat der Skala gepruft. Die Ergebnisse von multidimensionaler Skalierung (Studie 1) und konfirmatorischer Faktorenanalyse (Studie 2) bestatigen die postulierte Binnendifferenzierung von Networking durch zwei Facetten, 1) internes vs. externes Networking sowie 2) Aufbau vs. Pflege vs. Nutzung von Kontakten. Durch die Kreuzung der Facetten entstehen sechs Subskalen, die sich zu einer Gesamtskala zusammenfassen lassen. Fur die Skala ergeben sich diskriminante Zusammenhange mit Masen, die Grose und Constra...

The Moderating Effect of Raters’ Opportunities to Observe Ratees' Job Performance on the Validity of an Assessment Centre

Previous research has suggested that the quality of judgmental validation criteria may improve depending on the increase of opportunity for the rater to observe ratees’ job performances. This study investigated whether the validity of an assessment centre increases with opportunity to observe. Subjects were engineers and applied scientists from the Research and Development (R&D) units of seven German high-technology companies. A total of 6 personality scales, 10 cognitive ability tests and 9 work samples was administered to 155 subjects. Performance appraisals were collected from their supervisors. Assessors were trained organizational psychologists who were not members of the participating organizations. A total score (‘assessment centre score’) was computed by averaging the 25 predictors after standardization of each predictor. The (uncorrected) validity of this assessment centre was r = 0.37. In addition, opportunity to observe (i.e. amount of time the performance rater was the ratee’s supervisor) emerged as a moderator: for example validities were r = 0.09 (opportunity to observe ≤ 2 years) and r = 0.50 (opportunity to observe> 2 years).