Applicant Referent Information at Hiring Interview and Subsequent Turnover among Part-Time Workers

This study used referent choice theory (Kulik & Ambrose, 1992) as a basis for assessing the degree to which applicant market-referent information and self-referent information collected just before the hiring interview were predictive of subsequent turnover among 152 entry-level, part-time workers. Logistic regression results showed that two forms of applicant market-referent information, number of applications filed and degree of target organization wage information possessed, were both significantly and positively related to turnover. For self-referent information, the difference between beginning wage and wage expected and the difference between beginning wage and recent wage were both significantly and positively related to turnover. An alternative analysis of the self-referent information conducted by including the three self-referent variables in a logistical regression equation indicated that recent wage earned had a significant positive and beginning wage had a significant negative relationship to turnover, while the results related to expected wage were not significant. Overall, the results suggest that referent choice theory warrants further investigation as a framework for predicting subsequent applicant and organizational outcomes based on referent information available at the point of hiring.