Applicant Attraction: The role of recruiter function,work–life balance policies and career salience

This study examined the impact of salient identity, career path and recruiter functional area [internal human resource (HR) personnel vs external recruitment company] on perceptions of organizational attraction with a sample of young, inexperienced job seekers. Two hundred and one participants responded to a questionnaire and rated their attraction to two different job advertisements. The results partially supported the first hypothesis; applicants perceived a job opportunity in an organization that offered either a flexible career path or a dual career path as significantly more attractive than a position in an organization that offered a traditional career path. There was no support for the second hypothesis that identity salience would interact with career path. The results showed that recruiter functional area had no impact on attraction to the organization. It was concluded that flexible HR policies increase applicants' perceptions of organizational attraction during the initial stages of the recruitment process. Practical and research applications are discussed.     

Selecting Unskilled and Semi‐Skilled Blue‐Collar Workers: The criterion‐related validity of the PDI‐employment inventory1

Two concurrent criterion‐related validity studies were conducted with blue‐collar workers employed in Australia. The first sample consisted of 77 unskilled and semi‐skilled manufacturing employees. The second sample consisted of 243 stockpeople who worked in piggeries. A range of work‐related criteria was used, and this range differed across the two studies. The results showed that Employment Inventory–Performance was a reasonable predictor of some aspects of supervisor ratings of work performance but unrelated to other aspects. A similar pattern of findings emerged with self‐ratings of work performance. Employment Inventory–Tenure was weakly related to turnover intentions and actual turnover.     

Understanding the Applicant Recruitment Experience: Does timeliness matter?

This study examined the effect of recruitment time delays on applicant attraction to an organization. In addition, we examined if perceived job and organization characteristics mediated the relationship between recruitment time delays and attraction. The sample consisted of 85 experienced workers who were applying for a range of positions at a large Australian university. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the relationships. As hypothesized, perceived timeliness had a positive effect on attraction. Contrary to expectations, actual recruitment delays did not influence attraction. Finally, support was found for the partial mediation effects of perceived job and organization characteristics.     

Successful Postgraduate Placement Experiences: What is the Influence of Job and Supervisor Characteristics?

We know little about what determines an effective placement experience, yet vocational placements are an integral part of many professional degree programmes. The aim of this research was to examine the influence of job (task variety, task identity, task significance, feedback, and autonomy) and supervisor (relationship quality and mentoring) characteristics on placement outcomes. The findings were tested on samples from two professions for which placement were a compulsory part of their course. Sample 1 consisted of 266 undergraduate nurses, and sample 2 consisted of 176 postgraduate psychologists. The findings showed that job and supervisor characteristics explained unique variance in professional development and placement satisfaction. Of the five job characteristics examined, skill variety, feedback from the job, and task significance influenced placement outcomes. Mentoring emerged as the most important supervisor characteristic that was associated with professional development and placement satisfaction, and to a slightly less extent, supervisor–student relationship quality was also important. The research and practical implications of the findings were discussed.     

Applicant Reactions to Multiple Selection Procedures for the Police Force

Cette étude de terrain portant sur des candidats voulant entrer dans la police a fait appel à la théorie de Gilliland (1993) concernant la pertinence de la justice organisationnelle. La recherche a tenté d’analyser: a) la perception que les candidats avaient de trois procédures de sélection (tests de souplesse corporelle, tests psychologiques et entretien); b) si la perception des tests de souplesse corporelle variait avec le sexe; c) si les réactions aux procédures de sélections susmentionnées avaient une influence significative sur l’attirance exercée par l’organisation, l’intention d’accepter le poste et la perception de l’équité. Les candidats ont été contactés trois fois: à la présélection (1° période); après les tests psychologiques, l’épreuve d’agilité physique et l’entretien (2° période); et à la fin de la procédure de sélection (3° période). Il apparut que les candidats réagissaient plus favorablement aux entretiens et aux tests de souplesse corporelle qu’aux tests psychologiques. Les femmes tendaient à moins voir que les hommes un rapport entre les tests d’agilité physique et le travail. Les réactions des candidats vis‐à‐vis des tests psychologiques et des entretiens étaient le plus souvent sans lien avec l’attirance, les intentions et la perception de l’équité. Les réactions envers les tests d’agilité physique influençaient le désir de rejoindre les forces de police, mais pas le sexe. La perception du caractère (in)juste du résultat de la sélection était surtout sous la dépendance des a priori concernant l’utilisation des tests psychologiques et des entretiens dans la sélection. On examine les retombées de ces résultats sur la pratique et les recherches à venir. This field study of applicants seeking to join the police force used Gilliland's (1993 ) adaptation of organisational justice theory to frame the study. The study sought to examine (a) applicant perceptions of three selection procedures: physical agility tests, psychological tests, and interviews; (b) whether females and males had different perceptions of physical agility tests; and (c) if reactions to the aforementioned selection procedures had a significant influence on organisational attractiveness, job acceptance intentions, and fairness perceptions. Applicants were surveyed at three time points: pre‐selection (Time 1); after psychological testing, physical agility testing, and interview (Time 2); and after the completion of selection procedures (Time 3). The findings showed applicants reacted most positively to interviews and physical agility tests and less favorably to psychological tests. Compared to males, females were less likely to perceive physical agility tests as job related. Applicant reactions to psychological tests and interviews were mostly unrelated to attraction‐intentions and fairness perceptions. Reactions to physical agility tests influenced desire to join the police force; gender did not influence intention to join the police force. Perceptions of selection outcome fairness were mostly influenced by initial beliefs about the use of psychological tests and interviews for selection purposes. Practical and future research applications of the findings are discussed.     

Does Psychological Empowerment Mediate the Relationship Between Psychological Climate and Job Satisfaction?

This study tested a model in which empowerment was hypothesised to mediate the relationship between psychological climate and job satisfaction. Individual levels of negative affectivity were controlled for. The sample consisted of 174 customer service employees (59% female and 39% male). Support was found for a model in which empowerment mediated the relationship between climate and job satisfaction, the dimensions of meaning and competence were largely responsible for the mediating effects of empowerment. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings were explored.     

Gender Differences in Transformational Leadership: An Examination of Superior,Leader, and Subordinate Perspectives

This study examined gender differences intransformational leadership from multiple perspectives.The sample was employees of a large international bank inAustralia. Ratings were obtained from branch managers' (n = 120 female and n = 184 male), theirsuperiors (n = 32) and subordinates (n = 588). Thefindings showed that superiors evaluated female managersas more transformational than male managers. Consistent with the superior observations, at the globallevel, female managers rated themselves as moretransformational than males, however, at the morespecific, behavioral level of analysis, significantgender differences were noted only for those subscaleswhich are more interpersonally-oriented. Subordinatesevaluated their female and male leadersequally.     

Abandoning The Performance Narrative: Two Women's Stories of Transition from Professional Sport

Despite its potential to illuminate psychological processes within socio-cultural contexts, examples of narrative research are rare in sport psychology. In this study, we employed an analysis of narrative to explore two women's stories of living in, and withdrawing from, professional tournament golf gathered through life history interviews conducted over 6 years. Our findings suggest that immersion in elite sport culture shaped these women's identities around performance values of single-minded dedication to sport and prioritization of winning above all other areas of life. When the performance narrative ceased to “fit” their changing lives, both women, having no alternative narrative to guide their personal life stories, experienced narrative wreckage and considerable personal trauma. They required asylum—a place of refuge where performance values were no longer paramount—to story their lives around a relational narrative that reinstated a coherent identity while providing meaning and worth to life after golf.