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.     

A Longitudinal Study of Applicant Reactions to Multiple Selection Procedures and Job and Organizational Characteristics

This longitudinal field study aimed to: (a) examine the relative importance of reactions to psychological tests compared to interviews; (b) compare reactions to selection procedures with perceptions of job and organizational attributes; and (c) examine the relative importance of job acceptance intentions assessed at different stages. Graduate applicants were surveyed at four time points: pre‐selection, after an external interview, after psychological tests and internal interviews, and after actual job acceptance decision. Reactions to psychological tests were unrelated to attractiveness and acceptance intentions, whereas mixed findings were reported on reactions to interviews. Mostly, the findings showed that perceptions of job and organizational attributes explained significant variance in attractiveness and job acceptance intentions, whereas reactions to selection procedures were unrelated. The hypothesis that acceptance intentions closest in time to job acceptance decision would be more strongly related to job acceptance decision compared to intentions assessed at early stages was not supported. In general, the results emphasised the relative importance of initial attitudes of applicants in understanding applicant reactions.     

The role of leader relationship quality in the development of employee fit perceptions

Despite being a subject of scholarly inquiry for nearly a century, some components of person–environment fit remain enigmatic. This research seeks to explore the relational factors that are associated with employee identity and how this lens can provide explanatory factors that link leader–employee relationships to employee performance. Across a two‐study, multi‐rater constructive replication design, our results support the tenets of the identity theory that suggests the quality of the leader–employee relationships informs employees of their person–organization (PO) and person–job (PJ) fit, leading to higher performance. Across both the studies, high‐quality leader–employee relations (conceptualized as LMX and trust in leader) were related to higher levels of PO and PJ fit. Our results also indicate that PO and PJ fit uniquely drive higher levels of performance as rated by multiple constituents, helping delineate the impact of PO and PJ fit on work outcomes. Specifically, in Study One (N = 111), PJ fit mediated the relationship between LMX and leader‐rated performance, whereas in Study Two (N = 94), PO fit mediated the relationship between trust in leader and peer‐rated performance. This work provides preliminary support that leaders, through their relationships, can help shape employee fit perceptions and ultimately impact performance. Such knowledge can inform organizations and leaders, and emphasizes the formative role that leaders play in the organizational lives of their employees.     

The use of person–organization fit and person–job fit information in making selection decisions

Two policy-capturing studies were conducted to investigate how person–organization (PO) fit and person–job (PJ) fit information are weighted and combined when hiring decision makers evaluate job candidates, and how the process is influenced by the position’s characteristics. Regarding the combining process, we detected a nonlinear, conjunctive rule in which a low level of PJ fit was paid more attention, the levels of PO fit and PJ fit interacted, and candidates with moderate levels of PO fit and PJ fit were preferred over those with high and low levels. Regarding the weighting process, we found that PO fit was weighted more heavily for a permanent position, and PJ fit for a fixed-term and/or a knowledge-intensive position. In addition, the position’s contract duration (permanent vs. fixed-term) and task elements (managerial vs. knowledge-intensive) interacted in influencing the weighting of PO fit and PJ fit.     

Investigating the Effects of Applicant Justice Perceptions on Job Offer Acceptance

Drawing on extant recruitment and organizational justice theory, this research examines the effects of justice perceptions on job acceptance decisions across 2 samples (n = 332 and 2,974) of applicants to jobs within the U.S. military. More specifically, we examine justice–job offer acceptance relations relative to other pertinent recruitment predictors including, organizational image, familiarity, person–organization (P–O) fit perceptions, and recruiter behaviors. Findings from both studies support the importance of justice perceptions in influencing job offer acceptance. Fairness perceptions accounted for 29.37% and 19.22% of the unique variance in job offer acceptance, in Studies 1 and 2, respectively. The results of this research provide much needed empirical evidence to the scant literature on actual job acceptance and highlight important practical implications for employers.     

The Relation between Selection Expectations,Perceptions and Organizational Attraction: A test of competing models

Little is known about how applicants' selection expectations and perceptions interplay in predicting applicant attraction outcomes (organizational attractiveness, job pursuit intention, and recommendation intention). In the present study, 340 entry‐level applicants for jobs in a large financial company provided information about their selection expectations before the procedure, and about their perceptions and attraction to the organization after the procedure. Regression analyses indicated that applicant perceptions, and in particular perceptions of warmth/respect, mediated the relationship between selection expectations and organizational attractiveness and job pursuit intention. No support was found for the moderating role of selection expectations in the perception–attraction relationship. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Engagement,procedural fairness,and perceived fit as predictors of applicant withdrawal intentions: A longitudinal field study

The current study draws upon image theory to identify predictors of applicant withdrawal intentions and behavior. Applicants from a U.S. manufacturing organization completed measures of engagement, procedural justice, perceived fit, offer expectancy, perceived alternatives, and withdrawal intentions. Results indicate that withdrawal intentions were lower when candidates were more engaged in the selection process, perceived a higher level of procedural justice in the application process, perceived a greater degree of fit, and had higher offer expectancies. Additionally, the person–job fit–withdrawal intentions relationship was moderated by perceived alternatives such that this relationship was strongest when candidates reported having more alternatives. Withdrawal behavior was significantly predicted by person–organization fit, engagement, and withdrawal intentions. These results suggest that withdrawal intentions may be reduced via the development of engaging and procedurally fair selection procedures that help candidates determine their fit with the job and the organization.     

CONSEQUENCES OF INDIVIDUALS' FIT AT WORK: A META-ANALYSIS OF PERSON–JOB, PERSON–ORGANIZATION, PERSON–GROUP, AND PERSON–SUPERVISOR FIT

This meta-analysis investigated the relationships between person–job (PJ), person–organization (PO), person–group, and person–supervisor fit with preentry (applicant attraction, job acceptance, intent to hire, job offer) and postentry individual-level criteria (attitudes, performance, withdrawal behaviors, strain, tenure). A search of published articles, conference presentations, dissertations, and working papers yielded 172 usable studies with 836 effect sizes. Nearly all of the credibility intervals did not include 0, indicating the broad generalizability of the relationships across situations. Various ways in which fit was conceptualized and measured, as well as issues of study design, were examined as moderators to these relationships in studies of PJ and PO fit. Interrelationships between the various types of fit are also meta-analyzed. 25 studies using polynomial regression as an analytic technique are reviewed separately, because of their unique approach to assessing fit. Broad themes emerging from the results are discussed to generate the implications for future research on fit.     

The Antecedent and Consequence of Person–Organization Fit: Ingratiation,similarity, hiring recommendations and job offer

This study investigates how the ingratiation and perceived similarity of a job applicant can affect the judgment of an interviewer in determining person–organization fit (P–O fit), hiring recommendations and the job offer during a job interview. Data were collected from 144 interviewers and 184 applicants from 28 companies in Taiwan. The results suggest that applicant ingratiation has a positive effect on an interviewer's perceived similarity with the applicant, and that this perceived similarity mediates the relationship between applicant ingratiation and the interviewer's judgment of the applicant's P–O fit. The results further suggest that the relationship between the interviewer's judgment of the applicant's P–O fit and the job offer is mediated by hiring recommendations. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Recruiting on Corporate Web Sites: Perceptions of fit and attraction

This study adopted a person–organization (P–O fit) framework to investigate job seeker attraction to organizations in the context of e‐recruitment. Recruitment information posted on real corporate web sites was presented to active job seekers (N=120) in order to better understand reactions to online recruiting. Participants examined one of three corporate web sites and completed questionnaires about their perceptions of web site usability, subjective P–O fit, and organizational attraction. In addition, occupational preference, internet experience, organization size and location were used as control variables. For female participants, perceptions of web site usability and subjective P–O fit were both positively related to attraction, with subjective P–O fit mediating the relationship between web site usability and organizational attraction. These relations were not found for male participants. Implications for future empirical research and recruitment practice were discussed.     

Perceived similarity and complementarity as predictors of subjective person‐organization fit

We examined whether subjective person‐organization (P‐O) fit arises from perceptions of similarity, complementarity or some combination of both. Data were collected from 209 employees of various occupational and organizational backgrounds. Results indicated that individuals distinguish between fit that occurs through similarity and complementarity, and that both explain unique variance in subjective P‐O fit. Subjective fit was associated with higher levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and reduced turnover intentions. Furthermore, the results suggest that subjective fit mediates the relationship between perceived similarity/complementarity and work attitudes.     

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.     

Recruiting Global Travelers: The Role of Global Travel Recruitment Messages and Individual Differences in Perceived Fit,Attraction, and Job Pursuit Intentions

Organizations often require managers to travel globally to fill international roles. Attending to fit with an organization's need for international mobility and global openness during recruiting could increase the proportion of effective global managers in an organization's applicant pool. We use recruitment research and theory to develop and test a conditional process model of the relationship between recruitment messages and job seeker perceived fit, attraction, and job pursuit intentions, depending on job seekers’ global openness and willingness to travel globally. Recruitment messages include information about a job's travel requirements and the global presence of the business. Two studies were undertaken to test our hypotheses. Analyses were conducted with conditional process modeling using nonlinear bootstrapping. Study 1, involving 230 job seekers, found that applicants’ willingness to travel interacted with recruiting messages about a job's global travel requirements to relate to job pursuit intentions through perceived job fit and job attraction. Study 2, involving 260 participants recruited through Mechanical Turk, indicated that global openness interacted with a global recruitment message, and willingness to travel interacted with a travel recruitment message, to relate to job pursuit intentions through job and organizational dimensions of perceived fit and attraction.     

The Relationship Between Person–Environment Fit,Control, and Strain: The Role of Ergonomic Work Design and Training

Ergonomics is an important workplace practice. Experienced stress in the workplace manifests itself in poor physical and mental health, and is associated with numerous negative personal and organizational outcomes. This study examines ergonomics and ergonomic training and their potential to reduce dysfunctional personal and work outcomes; specifically, job induced‐tension and job dissatisfaction directly and through perceptions of person–environment fit and perceptions of control. Quantitative and qualitative findings indicate positive relationships between ergonomic design and ergonomic training with perceptions of person–environment fit and control. Person–environment fit and control fully mediated the relationship between training satisfaction (component of ergonomic training) and job dissatisfaction, while partially mediating the relationship between work‐area design (a component of ergonomic design) and job‐induced tension.     

Applicants' and Employees' Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Effects of First‐Party Justice Perceptions and Moral Identity

This research explored individuals’ reactions to perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) using a multimotive framework. In 2 studies, the authors explored the boundary conditions of CSR effects among job applicants and internal employees. A scenario‐based experiment (N = 81) showed that the effect of CSR perceptions on job applicants’ job pursuit intentions was mitigated by applicants’ first‐party justice experiences, whereas it was amplified by their moral identity (Study 1). Survey data from 245 full‐time employees (Study 2) further supported the interactive effects revealed in Study 1. Specifically, first‐party justice perceptions attenuated the positive relationship between employees’ CSR perceptions and their organizational citizenship behavior (OCB); and the relationship between CSR perceptions and OCB was more pronounced among employees high (versus low) in moral identity. Our findings bridge the CSR and organizational justice literatures, and reveal that the effects of individuals’ CSR perceptions are more complicated than previously thought. The findings shed light on micro (employee)‐level CSR phenomena and offer implications for both research and practice.     

Person-organization fit and work-related attitudes and decisions: examining interactive effects with job fit and conscientiousness

This study examined boundary conditions that surround the importance of perceived person-organization (P-O) fit for work-related attitudes and decisions. The authors hypothesized that P-O fit is more strongly related to satisfaction and job choice decisions when needs-supplies (N-S) job fit or demands-abilities (D-A) job fit is low, and that P-O fit is more strongly related to job choice decisions for highly conscientious individuals. Hypotheses were tested among 299 participants in a 12-week internship program. Results indicated that P-O fit was more strongly related to satisfaction when individuals experienced low N-S job fit. P-O fit was more strongly related to job choice intentions when individuals experienced low D-A job fit or were highly conscientious. Finally, P-O fit was related to job offer acceptance for highly conscientious individuals.     

THE EFFECTS OF APPLICANTs' REACTIONS TO COGNITIVE ABILITY TESTS AND AN ASSESSMENT CENTER

Manufacturing applicants' perceptions of two selection devices were examined. In Study 1, applicants ( n = 3,984) completed cognitive ability tests and a survey of reactions. In Study 2, a subset of applicants from Study 1 ( n = 194) participated in an assessment center and completed the survey. Applicants reacted favorably to the procedures but viewed the assessment center as more face valid than the cognitive tests. Applicants who perceived the selection techniques more favorably were also more satisfied with the selection process, the job, and the organization. Although applicants' perceptions of the procedures were related to job acceptance intentions, applicants' liking of the job and organization explained the largest unique variance. In future studies, applicants' job acceptance intentions and attitudes toward the job and organization should be assessed before and after administration of selection devices; not controlling for prior impressions resulted in overestimation of the contribution of applicants' perceptions of selection procedures.     

The Effects of Regulatory Fit between Explanation Framing and Applicants’ Regulatory Foci on Applicant Reaction

Abstract

Drawing from regulatory fit theory and the literature on persuasion, the current study is the first to explore whether the fit between explanation framing and applicants’ regulatory foci could enhance applicant reaction. We hypothesized that a positively framed explanation fits with applicants’ promotion foci and that a negatively framed explanation fits with applicants’ prevention foci. Three studies were conducted in which participants with different regulatory foci rated their perceived procedural fairness and organizational attractiveness after reading differently framed recruitment advertisements, rejection letters, and job offer letters. The results supported our hypothesis by showing significant interactions between explanation framing and participants’ regulatory foci on procedural fairness and organizational attractiveness perception in the contexts of recruitment advertising and rejection letters. In these contexts, compared with receiving a negatively framed explanation, promotion-focused recipients reported higher levels of perceived fairness and organizational attractiveness after receiving a positively framed explanation, and promotion-focused recipients’ fairness and attractiveness perceptions were higher than prevention-focused recipients’, after receiving a positively framed explanation. Moreover, perceived procedural fairness mediated the relationship between regulatory fit and perceived organizational attractiveness. However, regulatory fit effects were not found in the context of job offer letters.     

A Mediated Moderation Model of Recruiting Socially and Environmentally Responsible Job Applicants

Socially and environmentally responsible organizations must attend to the fit of employees with the values of the organization. Recruiting practices are a key tool for ensuring fit with an organization's culture and values. We develop and test a model of the process through which recruitment information about an organization's social and environmental responsibility values differentially affect job seeker perceived fit, attraction, and job pursuit intentions depending on job seekers’ desire to have a significant impact through work. Our model of mediated moderation is tested with a sample of 339 actual job seekers using conditional process modeling and nonlinear bootstrapping techniques. Results support expectations that advertisement messages about an organization's social and environmental responsibility values interact with applicants’ desire to have a significant impact through work to influence job pursuit intentions through the hypothesized mediational process. Implications of the model for research on recruitment and organizational social and environmental responsibility are discussed.     

A LONGITUDINAL INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN JOB INFORMATION SOURCES, APPLICANT PERCEPTIONS OF FIT, AND WORK OUTCOMES

This longitudinal field study was designed to examine the relationships between job information sources, self-esteem, and perceptions of person-job (P-J) and person-organization (P-O) fit, as well as the relationships between perceptions of fit and work outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational identification, intentions to quit, stress symptoms, and turnover). The results indicate that the number of formal job information sources and self-esteem were positively related to perceptions of P-J fit, and formal job information sources were positively related to perceptions of P-O fit. Perceptions of P-J fit were positively related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational identification, and negatively related to stress symptoms and intentions to quit. Perceptions of P-O fit were negatively related to intentions to quit and turnover. In addition, perceptions of fit mediated the relationships between job information sources and self-esteem with job satisfaction, intentions to quit, and turnover. These results highlight the job applicant's perspective of fit, and demonstrate the importance of both P-J and P-O fit perceptions.