Age Discrimination: Converging Evidence from Four Australian Studies

Given that most Australian states have gone further than most U.S. states in their age discrimination legislation, it is of interest to research the types and extent of age discrimination in the recruitment and selection process in a jurisdiction that prohibits all discrimination based on age (not just against those 40 years or over). Four studies examining different parts of the process and the perspectives of different players in the system were conducted. Each study and each methodology detected converging evidence of ongoing age discrimination, from the language used in job advertisements to messages delivered by recruitment consultants to self-reports of employers to the experiences of job applicants.     

Recruitment Process Outsourcing and Applicant Reactions: When Does Image Make a Difference?

Many organizations transfer parts of their recruitment process to external service providers—often referred to as recruitment process outsourcing (RPO)—to save costs and enhance the quality of their recruitment procedures. However, contrary to the expectations regarding RPO, Wehner, Giardini, and Kabst (2012) found that RPO might cause negative reactions to recruitment procedures among graduates. We extend that study by incorporating a brand equity perspective in examining whether employer image and service provider image counterbalance negative reactions among graduates. Utilizing a scenario‐based, between‐subject design, we obtain results that show that the extent of RPO negatively influences applicant reactions regardless of the employer's or service provider's image. Furthermore, we find negative mediating effects of RPO on job acceptance intention. However, the perceived fit between employer image and service provider image positively influences applicant reactions. Moreover, employer image positively influences employer attractiveness and service provider image positively influences applicants’ satisfaction with the recruitment process. Thus, a strong employer image and service provider image partially compensate for the negative effects of RPO on applicant reactions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

When do employer awards pay off and when do they not? The impact of award familiarity on applicants’ job pursuit intentions and the moderating role of corporate brand awareness

Abstract

Employer awards are increasingly utilized in the recruitment context in order to provide positive signals to potential applicants. However, the impact of employer awards on applicants’ job pursuit intentions still requires empirical proof. This study elaborates on this impact and assumes that it is contingent upon corporate brand awareness. We show that employer awards only positively impact applicants’ job pursuit intentions if the award is well-known and the recruiting firm is not. Well-known employers however do not profit from the placement of an award, on the contrary, if the award is unfamiliar, its influence on job pursuit intentions is even deleterious.     

A Rose by Any Other Name: Identity and Impression Management in Résumés

Résumés provide critical information for organizations to make selection decisions and applicants with their first opportunity to influence decision makers. While résumés are intended to convey job relevant information, they also potentially provide information about applicants that could hinder their employment prospects. For example, many names give clues about an applicant’s sex or race, and previous research has shown this can have negative implications for historically disadvantaged groups. This creates an incentive for some people to engage in impression management regarding how they identify themselves in their résumé. The paper develops a typology for assessing the ethics of these attempts at impression management. Sample vignettes are provided to help explicate the proposed typology.     

Do I Really Want to Work Here? Testing a Model of Job Pursuit for MBA Interns

Job pursuit refers to the intentions, decisions, or behaviors indicative of a candidate's interest in a particular employer. This study develops and tests a process model of job pursuit for MBA interns with data collected before, during, and after their internships. Our model integrates theory from the person‐environment fit and organizational socialization literature. Results show pre‐entry person‐organization (P‐O) fit and social aspects tactics jointly motivate proactive information seeking about the employer (from those inside and outside the assigned department) during the internship, and interactively motivate information seeking outside the assigned department. Yet, only information seeking inside the assigned department is related to learning about the employer. Learning about the employer also predicts job‐acceptance intentions, which in turn predicts job‐acceptance decisions. The model developed in this study should serve as a guide to help human resource managers understand job pursuit and acceptance in internships and other similar employment relationships. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Watch What You Say: Job Applicants’ Justice Perceptions From Initial Organizational Correspondence

Although it is a common practice for organizations to communicate with job seekers following application submission, little is known about how applicants react to this correspondence. Drawing from recruitment and organizational justice theories, we explore the possibility that specific correspondence content influences job seekers’ fairness perceptions. Data collected from 119 actual job applicants indicated that providing relevant information about the recruitment process (information adequacy) positively related to informational and interpersonal justice perceptions. However, delivering this information in an interpersonally sensitive manner (information sensitivity) had a stronger impact on interpersonal justice perceptions. Finally, post hoc analyses suggested that incorporating specific content delivered in initial job applicant correspondence could allow recruiting organizations to develop practical, cost‐effective strategies for enhancing job seekers’ fairness perceptions following their application submission. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Liability Exposure Trends in Recruitment: An Assessment and Analysis of Retail Employment Applications

For many years interviews and written applications required the job applicant to provide answers to a wide range of questions. Initially the employer could and did ask questions on any subject in which he/she had an interest, including those of a personal nature. If the prospective employee refused to provide the information, the application was simply discarded without regard for any issues arising, involving discriminatory/disparate treatment or disparate impact on the job applicant. This article examines national and regional retail outlet employment applications. Our examination of these employment applications considers the information each application solicits, whether those questions seek information that would likely reveal an applicant's membership in a protected class, and thus to what degree retail employment applications create a discriminatory legal liability for the employer.     

Behavioural responses to employment discrimination: a study of Hong Kong workers

This study examines the behavioural responses of Hong Kong workers to employment discrimination. Based on the exit-voice framework proposed by Hirschman, five possible responses (i.e. neglect, quit, internal voice, external voice and litigation) are identified. The effects of certain personal attributes and work-related factors on these responses are evaluated. Two different data sets, focusing on gender discrimination and family status discrimination, are analysed. The results of logistic regression indicate that workers with higher levels of education and sensitivity to discrimination are more likely to complain and less likely to neglect their work or resign. Additionally, men and women respond differently to sex-based discrimination. Work-related factors such as employment sector, job tenure and employer size are also found to exert significant effects. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Conjoint implications on job preferences: the moderating role of involvement

Attracting qualified staff is pivotal for organizational competitive advantages. However, little is known about which employer characteristics mainly drive job choice, or about how applicants evaluate certain organizational characteristics. Moreover, recent recruitment research hints that the influential weight of organizational characteristics on job choice may be contingent upon applicants' involvement. By using conjoint analysis, we test the impact of different organizational and job characteristics as well as the moderating role of involvement. The results suggest that involvement increases soft factors, while decreasing the effect of payment on job choice.     

The effects of age discrimination legislation on workplace practice: a New Zealand case study

This article explores the effects of the legal prohibition of age discrimination in New Zealand, based on a survey of the recruiting practices of individual organisations. Its findings indicate that many firms continue to breach the law through a continued emphasis on age during the recruitment process. Age‐related information is directly or indirectly requested from a sizeable percentage of job applicants. The findings highlight the importance of the socio‐economic context in which legislation is enacted. As with unwritten rules, the impact of law in a specific context is inevitably circumscribed by the deeply embedded nature of practice, especially if enforcement is lax.     

Sounding “Different”: The Role of Sociolinguistic Cues in Evaluating Job Candidates

An increasingly diverse labor pool has increased the likelihood that HR recruiters will encounter job seekers who speak with different dialects. Prior studies have investigated the effects of applicant dialect on employment selection outcomes. In this article, we merge this research with stereotyping, “modern racism,” and sociolinguistics literatures to formulate propositions surrounding two questions of interest: (1) Do prospective employers categorize job applicants using sociolinguistic cues? and (2) If so, what impact does this categorization have on evaluations of applicant employability? We believe this research can provide significant insights into HR practice as discriminatory behaviors change and adapt to fit social norms, particularly in employee recruitment and selection contexts. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

When ethnic discrimination in recruitment is likely to occur and how to reduce it: Applying a contingency perspective to review resume studies

Cultural minorities often suffer from ethnic discrimination in recruitment. To measure ethnic discrimination accurately, researchers have shifted from interviews, survey studies, and statistical salary comparisons to resume studies. To conduct a resume study, researchers send out similar, paired resumes in response to job advertisements and vary the names to indicate a membership to different ethnic groups. Previous resume studies have found that ethnic discrimination in recruitment is a common problem across different countries. However, previous research reported large discrimination differences across studies. Not much is known about boundary conditions and moderators of ethnic discrimination in recruitment. To create the theoretical basis for future research, we expand on previous research and reviews by elucidating when ethnic discrimination is likely to occur and how it can be reduced. We also provide insight into how resume study research can contribute to identifying the causes and mechanisms of ethnic discrimination. For this purpose, we develop a contingency perspective based on a literature review and explain how ethnic discrimination depends on the characteristics of the: 1) applicant, 2) job, 3) recruiter, 4) hiring organization, 5) country, and 6) ethnic group. Further, we explain that ethnic discrimination can be reduced by using anonymous resumes, adding information on job applicants, “whitening” resumes, including volunteer work in resumes, and conducting intervention studies. Lastly, we provide a rich agenda, and present thought-provoking topics for future research.     

Why does firm reputation in human resource policies influence college students? The mechanisms underlying job pursuit intentions

Business periodicals, such as Fortune magazine, rank organizations in lists such as the “Best Companies to Work For,” providing applicants with information about firms' human resource practices, including pay, benefits, work‐life, and diversity practices. It is not clear what influence this reputational information about HR practices has on applicant interest in pursuing employment or, more important, why it does so. Given that firms invest substantial resources in HR practices to vie for positions on these lists, the current study sought to fill these gaps in the literature. In the 2 (compensation) × 2 (work‐family) × 2 (diversity) factorial design, 232 college students read about magazine rankings in which a firm's reputation in each HR practice was manipulated as ranking either high or low relative to competitors. We examined perceptions of organizational prestige, anticipated organizational support, and anticipated role performance as mechanisms that explain the influence of HR practice reputation on job pursuit intentions. Our results indicate that a firm's reputation in compensation, work‐family, and diversity efforts increase college students' intentions to pursue employment with a firm. They do so because college students perceive that the organization is prestigious, will be supportive, and will foster their job performance. Our results suggest that a strong employer brand derived from employee‐centered HR practices is important for recruiting college students. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Integrating job search behavior into the study of job seekers’ employer knowledge and organizational attraction

This paper reports on a study about the impact of job search behaviors and employer knowledge on organizational attraction during recruitment. A time-lagged study was conducted among job seekers from a Singaporean business school. Results indicated that preparatory job search (PJS) behaviors influenced organizational attraction through employer familiarity. PJS also moderated the effects of two-types of images – employer creativity and people focus – on organizational attraction. These findings imply that a recruitment strategy needs to consider PJS and the specific type of employer image when communicating employer-based information.     

Core processes and applicant reactions to the employment interview: an exploratory study in Greece

This research explores the employment interview in Greece with two aims: first, to look at the practice of the employment interview from the interviewer perspective, exploring a number of issues, which have been identified as important for increasing interview's effectiveness and second, to look at the role of interviewers' characteristics on applicant reactions and their behavioral intentions to the actual interview, using two independent samples of interviewers (N = 131) and actual job applicants (N = 122), respectively. The results of the first study were quite supportive regarding the effective use of the employment interview in Greece. In the second study, interviewers' personal characteristics were related to applicants' post-interview attitudes and intentions, although this relationship was fully mediated by the overall perception of the interview held by the job applicant. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Employee recruitment and job search: Towards a multi-level integration

This study describes an attempt to develop an integrative model of job search and employee recruitment. Inevitably multi-level in nature, the model demonstrates the interplay between organizational-level factors and individual-level factors in influencing the outcomes of employee recruitment and job search activities. According to the model, influenced by job seeker and organizational characteristics, job search and recruitment activities jointly create job awareness, which is the first step in organizational attraction. Next, depending on the job seeker's current job situation, this attraction leads to job pursuit intention and behavior. The model also emphasizes the longitudinal nature of the process by which individuals gain employment. Finally, since each organization's applicant pool consists of job seekers with some common characteristics attracted to the same position, the model proposes that recruitment and job search can be examined by utilizing a multilevel framework.     

The effects of age and family constraints on gender hiring discrimination: A field experiment in the French financial sector

Using correspondence testing, we investigate whether age and family constraints have an effect on the gender gap in access to job interviews. We sent job applications from three pairs of candidates to the same job advertisements in the French financial sector between January and March 2002, focusing on low-skilled administrative or commercial jobs and high-skilled administrative or commercial jobs. Within each pair, the applicants' characteristics were similar except for gender. We compare the gender gap in access to job interviews for single and childless applicants aged 25 and 37. We find significant hiring discrimination against women aged 25 applying for high-skilled administrative jobs. Young men are preferred to young women when employers offer long-term contracts. Among single and childless applicants aged 37, we find no significant hiring discrimination against women. We then compare the gender job-access gap for applicants aged 37 who are single and childless or married with three children. We do not find significant hiring discrimination against female applicants aged 37.     

The recruitment interview process: Persuasion and organization reputation promotion in competitive labor markets

With very low unemployment levels, competition for the best employees is extremely keen. Firms that strive to maximize job candidates' job offer acceptance should realize increased competitive advantage through more effective recruitment programs. It is clear that applicants are interested in job attributes and pay schemes, but in the current “seller's market,” pay and job enrichment levels may be considerably depreciated. This paper proposes a model of the recruitment interview process, which emphasizes organizations' strategic efforts to maximize the acquisition of top talent in competitive markets through interviewer persuasion and active promotion of organization reputation. Implications of this conceptualization for research and practice are discussed.     

When and why employees of non-profits promote their organizations: Determinants of positive staff-word-of-mouth

Employees represent a credible source of information for prospective job applicants of non-profit organizations. However, less is known about when and why staff actively promote their organizations. The authors develop a parsimonious model of determinants of positive staff-word-of-mouth (SWOM) and test this model on the data from a survey of employees of a major Scandinavian missionary organization (Normisjon). The findings show that identification with the organization, organizational climate, and task satisfaction are significant determinants of positive SWOM. The pattern of effects differs for employees with and without formal leadership responsibility. For employees with such responsibilities, organizational identification has a greater effect and organizational climate a weaker effect on SWOM than for employees with no leadership responsibility. Based on the current findings and the broader literature on employer branding and recruitment, the authors offer tentative guidelines for how to increase positive SWOM for nonprofits.