A Comparison of the Effects of Positive and Negative Information on Job Seekers' Organizational Attraction and Attribute Recall

To date there have been no direct studies of how strong negative information from sources outside of organizations' direct control impacts job seekers' organizational attraction. This study compared models for positive and negative information against a neutral condition using a longitudinal experimental study with college-level job seekers (n = 175). Consistent with the accessibility-diagnosticity perspective, the results indicated that negative information had a greater impact than positive information on job seekers' organizational attraction and recall, and this effect persisted 1 week after exposure. The results did not indicate that the influence of information sources and topics that fit together was lessened when the information was negative. The results suggest that job seekers interpret positive and negative information differently and that negative information, when present, has an important influence on job seekers' organizational attraction.     

Development of a Multidimensional Instrument of Person–Environment Fit: The Perceived Person–Environment Fit Scale (PPEFS)

This research identifies four challenges in the field of person–environment fit (PE fit): the multidimensionality of PE fit, the integration of fit theories, the simultaneous effects of the multiple dimensions, and the function of the dimensions. To address those challenges, we develop a theory‐driven and systematically validated multidimensional instrument, the Perceived Person–Environment Fit Scale (PPEFS), consisting of four measures: the Person–Job Fit Scale (PJFS), the Person–Organisation Fit Scale (POFS), the Person–Group Fit Scale (PGFS), and the Person–Supervisor Fit Scale (PSFS). Data are collected from 532 employees and 122 managers for two independent studies with multiple rater sources and multiple time points. A series of validation analyses and hypothesis tests reveals that the PPEFS measures have good psychometric properties (i.e. reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and criterion‐related validity) and exhibit incremental validity above and beyond Cable and DeRue's (2002) fit measures. Furthermore, the measures are reflected by a superordinate (vs. aggregate) construct of PE fit. Overall, the four different types of fit significantly predict in‐role behavior, job satisfaction, intent to quit, and organisational citizenship behavior (OCB), each explaining the greatest amount of variance in different outcomes. The PPEFS should prove useful in future research regarding PE fit.     

Changing an unfavorable employer reputation: the roles of recruitment message‐type and familiarity with employer

An unfavorable employer reputation can impair an organization's ability to recruit job seekers. The present research used a 4 week longitudinal experimental design to investigate whether recruitment messages can positively change an existing unfavorable employer reputation. Two hundred and twenty‐two job seekers rated their perceptions of an organization before and after being randomly assigned to receive a series of high‐ or low‐information recruitment messages. As expected, job seekers receiving high‐information messages changed their perceptions more than job seekers who were exposed to low‐information messages. In addition, job seekers' initial familiarity with the employer was negatively related to change in their perceptions of employer reputation. Finally, there was some evidence that job seekers' familiarity with the employer influenced the impact of different recruitment messages. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

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.     

the use of narratives to contextualize the experiences and needs of unemployed,underemployed, and displaced workers

The author examined the role of narratives used by unemployed, underemployed, and displaced workers seeking job training assistance through a government‐funded One‐Stop Career Center. Interviews with employees of a One‐Stop Career Center provided insight on client rate of disclosure of personal narratives and how client narratives are used to facilitate the job search process. Specifically, data from the interviews suggest that narratives give career center employees insight on job seekers' background, barriers, and reemployment mind‐set. Furthermore, the act of listening was seen as legitimizing job seekers' experiences. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Inter‐Relationships among Different Types of Person–Environment Fit and Job Satisfaction

This paper investigates how different types of person–environment (P–E) fit work together to influence job satisfaction. One field study and a re‐analysis of Cable and DeRue's (2002) data were conducted to investigate the inter‐relationships linking different types of fit perceptions and job satisfaction. An employment relationship model describing how person–organisation values congruence (OVC), demands–abilities (D–A), and needs–supplies (N–S) fit perceptions relate to each other and job satisfaction is proposed and tested. Results support a model where N–S fit mediated the impact of both OVC and D–A fit on job satisfaction. Furthermore, OVC was related also to satisfaction both directly and indirectly, whereas D–A fit was only related to satisfaction via N?S fit.     

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.     

Internet Recruiting: Effects of website content features on viewers' perceptions of organizational culture

This study examined the effects of four ‘careers’ website content features (pictures, testimonials, organizational policies, and awards won) on viewers' perceptions of nine organizational culture attributes. Eight of these culture attributes were more strongly conveyed by culture‐specific website content features than by culture‐neutral website content features. This study also found support for a partial mediated‐moderation model. This model illustrated that participants with weak culture preferences formed less favorable person–organization (P–O) fit perceptions as they perceived an organization to more strongly convey the culture attribute under investigation. Conversely, participants with strong culture preferences formed more favorable P–O fit perceptions as they perceived an organization to more strongly portray the culture attribute in question. Respondents with stronger P–O fit perceptions in turn reported stronger organizational attraction.     

The why and when of background checks: Situational factors moderate effects of criminal and financial stigma

Past criminal and financial transgressions, even when of questionable job relevance, can harm job‐seekers' prospects. In three hiring simulation experiments, manipulations of situational factors hypothesized to alter decision focus moderate the effect of background report information on applicant evaluations. In Study 1, emphasizing in‐role performance as a hiring goal decreases the weight placed on transgressions relative to standard qualifications. Study 2 demonstrates this context effect with a different design and experienced hiring professionals, and finds that delaying background checks heightens a transgression's impact. In Study 3, presenting novel positive information in conjunction with a criminal offense mitigates the delay effect. By adopting a behavioral decision perspective, this research illuminates how situational factors shape the impact of a widespread form of stigma.     

Regulatory fit theory at work: prevention focus' primacy in safe food production

The food‐processing industry emphasizes employee compliance to food‐safety standards to prevent distribution of contaminated foods. Regulatory fit theory was tested to examine the applicability of self‐regulation constructs as potential components of person‐job fit. In contexts emphasizing safety, workers higher in prevention should experience greater person‐job fit, thus prevention focus should relate to desirable outcomes. Poultry‐processing workers (n = 180) completed a work‐related regulatory focus scale as part of a survey including a set of outcome measures. Consistent with theory, prevention focus scores related to self‐reported positive work outcomes (job effectiveness, satisfaction, efficacy, enjoyment, involvement), and relationships were statistically mediated by perceived regulatory fit. Results have implications for selection practices and suggest ways work can be structured to enhance job performance.     

How experienced autonomy can improve job seekers' motivation,job search,and chance of finding reemployment

Job seekers can have different motivations to search for jobs. Some search to find a better job, others because reemployment guidance stimulates them to do so. Understanding how reemployment guidance impacts these different types of job search motivation, and how these types of motivation impact job search behavior, is important in fully comprehending the reemployment process. This study examined how experienced autonomy during reemployment guidance relates to job seekers' types of motivation, how these types of motivation relate to high-quality job search behavior and, in turn, how high-quality job search behavior predicts finding reemployment. In a three-wave field study (n_T1 = 440; n_T2,T3 = 172), we assessed unemployed people's need for autonomy, experienced autonomy, job search motivation, and job search behavior quantity and quality. Unemployed participants were surveyed at the start of reemployment guidance (T1) and six weeks thereafter (T2). Their reemployment status was assessed six months later (T3). Results showed that experiencing more autonomy was directly associated with autonomous job search motivation and indirectly associated with high-quality job search behaviors and a higher chance of finding reemployment, regardless of job seekers' individual need for autonomy. Additionally, experiencing less autonomy was directly associated with amotivation, and indirectly associated with low-quality job search behaviors and a lower chance of finding reemployment. The implications of our findings for the reemployment process and for reemployment guidance are discussed.     

Networking as a job search behaviour: A social network perspective

Although networking is typically recommended as a job search strategy in the popular press, research on networking as a job search behaviour is scarce. On the basis of social network theory, the present study investigated whether the structure and composition of job seekers' social network determined their networking behaviour and moderated its relationship with job search and employment outcomes. The data were collected in a large, representative sample of 1,177 unemployed Flemish job seekers, using a two‐wave longitudinal design. Job seekers with a larger social network and with stronger ties in their network spent more time networking, beyond individual differences in extraversion and conscientiousness. Networking explained incremental variance in job offers beyond job seekers' use of print advertising, the internet, and public employment services, but not in employment outcomes. Some evidence was found indicating that networking might be more effective for job seekers whose social network contains weaker and higher‐status ties.     

A Tailored Policy‐capturing Study on PO Fit Perceptions: The ascendancy of attractive over aversive fit

Job‐seekers are attracted to organizations if they perceive fit between their personal values and those of an organization. It is often assumed that people's person–organization (PO) fit perceptions reflect an overall comparison between the person and the organization: fits on values that are personally attractive, aversive, or relatively neutral are weighed equally. In this study, we questioned this assumption. Based on regulatory focus theory and construal level theory, we proposed that fit on values that are personally attractive would especially contribute to the perception of PO fit. Four policy‐capturing studies indeed showed that job‐seekers do not weigh all value fits equally. Rather, they weigh fit on personally attractive values more heavily than fit on personally aversive and neutral values. Thus, job‐seekers perceive high PO fit particularly when information about a prospective organization supports values that are personally attractive to them. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

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.     

examining holland's person—environment fit,workplace aggression,interpersonal conflict,and job satisfaction

The researchers examined the impact of person–environment (P‐E) fit, as defined by Holland's (1997) theory, on interpersonal conflict at work (ICAW) and workplace aggression. In addition, previous relationships found in the job satisfaction literature were examined in the present sample of 244 United States employees. Internet‐based surveys were completed by 244 participants in the current research. Results of hierarchical multiple regression and correlational analyses demonstrated a negative relationship between P‐E fit and ICAW. Replication of previous relationships was found between job satisfaction, P‐E fit, and workplace aggression. Implications for P‐E fit and workplace aggression research are discussed.     

Job-occupation misfit as an occupational stressor

Drawing from theory on met expectations, person–environment fit, and social information processing, misfit between the pressure and autonomy experienced by workers and that which would be expected given their occupational roles was examined as a predictor of job satisfaction, perceived support, and depression. Results from a nationally (U.S.) representative sample using response surface methods indicate that job pressure had much stronger effects on job satisfaction, perceived support, and depression when it exceeded the pressure that would be expected given the occupational role's norms for time pressure and critical decision-making demands. When pressure fell short of occupational norms, effects were much weaker and in some cases reversed. Satisfaction was also highest and depression lowest when the autonomy was at or slightly above the norms for autonomy for one's occupational role. These results have implications for job design, realistic job previews, and the use of normative occupational information in developing work roles that fit worker abilities and interests.     

The interactive effects of job advertisement characteristics and applicant experience on reactions to recruitment messages

Job seekers often use job advertisements presented during the early stages of recruitment to gather important information about potential employers. Content of these advertisements as well as associated peripheral cues have the potential to influence job seekers' organizational attitudes. Using the elaboration likelihood model as a theoretical framework, the authors proposed that job seekers' previous work and job search experience moderate the extent to which these job advertisement characteristics influence attitudes towards organizations. Results suggest that the content of job advertisements influence the organizational attitudes of experienced job seekers more than their inexperienced counterparts. Additionally, the presence of peripheral cues (i.e. physical attractiveness of those persons shown in recruitment material) appears to have a greater effect on the organizational attractiveness perceptions of job seekers having less work and job search experience versus those having more experience. Implications of the findings regarding organizational recruitment practices are discussed.     

When ethics create misfit: Combined effects of despotic leadership and Islamic work ethic on job performance,job satisfaction,and psychological well-being

This study applies social exchange and person–environment fit theories to predict that despotic leaders tend to hinder employee job performance, job satisfaction, and psychological well-being, whereas employees' own Islamic work ethic (IWE) enhances these outcomes. Also, IWE moderates the relationship of despotic leadership with the three outcomes, such that it heightens the negative impacts, because employees with a strong IWE find despotic leadership particularly troubling. A multi-source, two-wave, time-lagged study design, with a sample (303 paired responses) of employees working in various organisations, largely supports these predictions. Despotic leadership and IWE relate significantly to job performance, job satisfaction and psychological well-being in the predicted directions, except that there is no significant relationship between IWE and job satisfaction. A test of moderation shows that the negative relationships of despotic leadership with job outcomes are stronger when IWE is high. These findings have pertinent implications for theory, as well as for organisational practice.     

Influence of proficiency level and constraints on viewpoint switching: a study in web design

Web design is a complex problem in which designers have to consider the user's and the client's viewpoints to make satisfactory websites. Designers, particularly proficient ones, tend to privilege to the client's viewpoint to the detriment of the users' one. Consequently, websites often contain many usability violations and do not fit users' cognitive capacities, hence hampering navigation. The usability quality of websites may be proportional to designers' ability to switch between the client's and the user's viewpoints, which in turn may be influenced by designers' proficiency level. To explore the role of viewpoint switching in web design, performance was compared across three conditions emphasizing either the client's viewpoint, that of the user, or none of them in order to promote or hamper viewpoint switching. This manipulation had a significant effect on proficient designers' performance. Moreover, a significant relation between viewpoint switching and the usability quality of e‐mock‐ups was found. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.