Communicating Negative Hire Decisions to Applicants: Fulfilling Psychological Contracts

This study demonstrates that characteristics of rejection letters combine in a complex manner to affect impressions of the organization, and likelihood of re-applying to and of patronizing the organization. Specifically, the most negative reactions to rejection letters were found when a contact person existed, along with a long time interval before receiving a letter that failed to include an explicit statement of rejection. Some support was found for the failure to receive a rejection letter as a psychological contract violation.