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.     

How Users Take Advantage of Different Forms of Interactivity on Online News Sites: Clicking,E‐Mailing,and Commenting

This study examines the uptake of multiple interactive features on news sites. It looks at the thematic composition of the most clicked, most e‐mailed, and most commented stories during periods of heightened and routine political activity. Results show that (a) during the former period, the most commented stories were more likely to be focused on political, economic, and international topics (or “public affairs” news) than the most clicked and most e‐mailed articles. (b) The 3 types of interactivity exhibited a greater presence of public affairs content during the period of heightened political activity than during its routine counterpart. (c) As the period of heightened political activity unfolded, consumers' propensity to click on, e‐mail, and comment about public affairs stories increased.     

Similarity and Helping Behavior on the Web: The Impact of the Convergence of Surnames Between a Solicitor and a Subject in a Request Made by E‐Mail1

Similarity between a solicitor and a subject traditionally enhances helping behavior. An experiment was carried out in a computer‐mediated context. Fifty students received an e‐mail containing a 40‐question survey on their food habits, which required 15 to 20 min of their time to respond. This questionnaire came from a hypothetical student of the university in which the participants were registered. In half of the cases, the surname of the solicitor, which appeared in his or her electronic address, was the same as the surname of the target. Results show that compliance to the request was significantly higher in the same‐sumame condition than in the different‐surname condition. The response delay was significantly shorter in the same‐surname condition than in control condition.     

Examining changes in procedural justice and their influence on problem‐solving court outcomes

The number of problem‐solving courts has grown substantially since the mid‐1990s. Research consistently indicates that participation in these courts lowers recidivism, which is often attributed to defendants’ increased perceptions of procedural justice in these programs. Yet, prior studies are limited in their focus, often examining interactions with the judge in a single court or examining defendant perceptions and outcomes at a single time point. In the present study, we investigate defendant perceptions of procedural justice with judges and case managers across multiple problem‐solving courts over time. Findings indicate that procedural justice varies across court actors and over time. Procedural justice is lower among judges than among case managers; however, changes in perceptions of procedural justice with the judge are associated with improved court outcomes. We suggest that defendant perceptions are variable and complex but important in explaining variations in outcomes.     

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.     

Self‐regulation and well‐being: The influence of identity and motives

The relationship between self‐regulatory capacities and self‐esteem as well as well‐being is examined by a mediation model that views self‐regulation as promoting the development of identity achievement which, in turn, is expected to be associated with well‐being. Among secondary school students (Study 1) identity achievement mediated the association between the self‐regulatory capacity of attention control and self‐esteem. In Study 2 (university students), the mediational effect of identity achievement was found for the relationship between the self‐regulatory capacity of action control and well‐being. Explicit motives moderated this association. In sum, a firm identity enhances well‐being by lending a sense of continuity to one's life. However, explicit motives have a substitution effect by giving direction to life when lacking firm identity commitments. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of pictorial content on attention levels and alcohol‐related beliefs: An eye‐tracking study

To examine attention levels to different types of alcohol warning labels. Twenty‐two participants viewed neutral or graphic warning messages while dwell times for text and image components of messages were assessed. Pre and postexposure outcome expectancies were assessed in order to compute change scores. Dwell times were significantly higher for the image, as opposed to the text, components of warnings, irrespective of image type. Participants whose expectancies increased after exposure to the warnings spent longer looking at the image than did those whose positive expectancies remained static or decreased. Images in alcohol warnings appear beneficial for drawing attention, although findings may suggest that this is also associated with heightened positive alcohol‐related beliefs. Implications for health intervention are discussed and future research in this area is recommended.     

Intelligence and neural efficiency: The influence of task content and sex on the brain–IQ relationship

In studying physiological correlates of human intelligence, new brain imaging techniques like positron emission tomography (PET) and electroencephalography (EEG) mapping methods focus on the level and topographical distribution of cortical activation. Actually, there is strong empirical evidence that more intelligent individuals display a more focused cortical activation during cognitive performance resulting in lower total brain activation than in less intelligent individuals (i.e., neural efficiency hypothesis). Former studies have used only single, homogeneous tasks and most of the studies have been performed using males. Therefore, here the influence of different task content and of sex on the relationship between intelligence and cortical activation has been tested. In a sample of 26 males and 25 females, we administered verbal, numerical, and figural versions of a well-known elementary cognitive task, the so-called Posner task. Our results suggest a comparatively low cortical activation in brighter as compared to less intelligent individuals but this expected neural efficiency pattern interacted with sex and task content: In the verbal Posner task, the females were more likely to produce cortical activation patterns in line with the neural efficiency hypothesis, whereas in the figural task, primarily the males displayed the expected inverse relationship between IQ and cortical activation.     

The effects of early socialization experiences on content mastery and outcomes: A mediational approach

This field study examined how early socialization experiences affect new employee mastery of socialization content and socialization outcomes. New employees reported the realism of their preentry knowledge and the helpfulness of socialization agents. A follow-up survey assessed mastery of socialization content along with role clarity, job satisfaction, and affective organizational commitment. The results, based on 194 new employees of a large educational institution and using structural equation modeling, were highly supportive of the hypotheses. Realism of preentry knowledge and agent helpfulness, the two indicators of early socialization experiences, were associated with greater role clarity, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. In addition, the mastery of specific socialization content dimensions, the often-assumed intervening processes, was explicitly shown to mediate those relationships. The specific patterns of mediation observed further advance our understanding of the relationships between new employee mastery of socialization content and the determinants and consequences of that mastery.     

The promise and potential of studying the “invisible hand” of teacher influence on peer relations and student outcomes: A commentary

Peers influence children's social-emotional development and school engagement in important and unique ways. Recent research on peer social networks documents that children are affected by the nature of the school-based peer ecology, as well as by their personal peer experiences. Yet, little is known about how teachers affect the peer ecology, nor how teachers can promote positive peer influences in the school context. The four studies in this special section examine this issue. Together, they document the promise and the potential of studying the “invisible hand” of teacher influence on peer relations, and illustrate the need for further research in this area. This commentary considers the contributions of these papers for conceptualizing processes of transactional teacher and peer influence on student outcomes, and implications for interventions designed to reduce problem behaviors or increase school engagement. In addition, it considers the limitations of current knowledge and directions for future research.     

Peer victimization and social‐emotional outcomes: The role of teacher and peer support

The relation between peer victimization, risk of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties, and school‐based sources of social support for students in elementary and middle school were examined. Participants included 656 students in third to eighth grade from one school district. Results indicated that peer support mediated the relation between peer victimization and risk of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties, but teacher support did not mediate this relation. Conditional indirect effects analyses revealed that the indirect effect of peer support varied as a function of school level (i.e., intermediate and middle school). The implications and limitations of the current study are discussed, as well as directions for future research.

     

The role of outcome inhibition in interference between outcomes: A contingency‐learning analogue of retrieval‐induced forgetting

Current associative theories of contingency learning assume that inhibitory learning plays a part in the interference between outcomes. However, it is unclear whether this inhibitory learning results in the inhibition of the outcome representation or whether it simply counteracts previous excitatory learning so that the outcome representation is neither activated nor inhibited. Additionally, these models tend to conceptualize inhibition as a relatively transient and cue‐dependent state. However, research on retrieval‐induced forgetting suggests that the inhibition of representations is a real process that can be relatively independent of the retrieval cue used to access the inhibited information. Consistent with this alternative view, we found that interference between outcomes reduces the retrievability of the target outcome even when the outcome is associated with a novel (non‐inhibitory) cue. This result has important theoretical implications for associative models of interference and shows that the empirical facts and theories developed in studies of retrieval‐induced forgetting might be relevant in contingency learning and vice versa.     

The influence of an early interview on long‐term recall: a comparative analysis

Because of burgeoning participation by children in forensic situations there is significant concern about children's memory for stressful events. Influence of timing of the first interview and interview frequency on long‐term recall were evaluated by comparing three groups of 3‐ to 9‐year‐olds 1 year after an injury requiring emergency room treatment. One group had one interview, a year after injury; another group had two interviews, immediately and a year later; the third group had three interviews, immediately, 6 months and a year after injury. The type of event and timing of the initial interview influenced completeness and accuracy of recall after 1 year. All children showed extensive recall but having an immediate interview was associated with greater completeness and accuracy for 3–4‐year‐olds but not older children. This suggests a social influence: a highly structured and organized early interview may have beneficial effects on memory for preschoolers. Implications for questioning and testimony are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Capitalizing on brand personalities in advertising: The influence of implicit self‐theories on ad appeal effectiveness

How can firms use brand personalities to develop the most persuasive advertising appeals? In this article, we examine advertising appeals that capitalize on the signaling opportunities that using these brands can provide (signaling ad appeal) versus the self-improvement opportunities that using these brands can offer (self-improvement ad appeal). In two studies, we find that the effectiveness of these appeals depends on consumers' implicit self-theories. Specifically, signaling ad appeals are more effective for consumers who believe their personal qualities are fixed and cannot be developed through their own efforts (entity theorists), whereas self-improvement ad appeals are more effective for consumers who believe their personal qualities are malleable and can be developed (incremental theorists). Implications for brand personality research and advertising are discussed.     

The influence of evidence type and product involvement on message‐framing effects in advertising

• Extrapolating from prior research that describes the persuasive effects of gain‐ versus loss‐framed messages via the heuristic‐systematic model (HSM), the current study incorporated two advertising‐related factors – evidence type (informational vs. exemplar) and product involvement – and examined their influence on message‐framing effects in advertisements for commonplace consumer products. A significant interaction in Experiment 1 indicated that loss‐framed messages were persuasive in a higher‐involvement context only when coupled with informational evidence, which enhanced systematic processing among participants and thereby elicited the framing effect. No interaction effects occurred in the lower‐involvement context of Experiment 2, in which the hypothesized thought‐processing patterns did not evince. Consistent with recent theoretical advancements, these results indicate that message‐framing effects can be attenuated when both systematic and heuristic processing occur simultaneously. Practical implications are discussed.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Surface‐ and deep‐level dissimilarity effects on social integration and individual effectiveness related outcomes in work groups: A meta‐analytic integration

Prior research linking demographic (e.g., age, ethnicity/race, gender, and tenure) and underlying psychological (e.g., personality, attitudes, and values) dissimilarity variables to individual group member's work‐related outcomes produced mixed and contradictory results. To account for these findings, this study develops a contingency framework and tests it using meta‐analytic and structural equation modelling techniques. In line with this framework, results showed different effects of surface‐level (i.e., demographic) dissimilarity and deep‐level (i.e., underlying psychological) dissimilarity on social integration, and ultimately on individual effectiveness related outcomes (i.e., turnover, task, and contextual performance). Specifically, surface‐level dissimilarity had a negative effect on social integration under low but not under high team interdependence. In return, social integration fully mediated the negative relationship between surface‐level dissimilarity and individual effectiveness related outcomes under low interdependence. In contrast, deep‐level dissimilarity had a negative effect on social integration, which was stronger under high and weaker under low team interdependence. Contrary to our predictions, social integration did not mediate the negative relationship between deep‐level dissimilarity and individual effectiveness related outcomes but suppressed positive direct effects of deep‐level dissimilarity on individual effectiveness related outcomes. Possible explanations for these counterintuitive findings are discussed.