Cross-cultural study of managerial recruitment tools in Nordic countries

The article describes recruitment tools used in the four main Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark). It tries to compare résumés, covering letters and interviewing techniques used so as to extract what is most valued by each of them.

Both junior and senior levels of management need to be aware of the variety of practices described here but it is their decision to tailor their documents to the expectations of the country to which they are applying. In a similar fashion, employers need to be more open-minded as to how recruiters across Europe bear judgment on anyone’s application. The question may also be raised as to who will set the European standards for such documents in the future. But, as résumés in the Nordic countries, as elsewhere, reflect management values, they are bound to differ for some time until a European management style eventually emerges.

The specificities of the tools used by Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden are studied in detail as well their underlying managerial values.     

Access denied? Exploring the causes of the low representation of women in senior executive positions within procurement

Recent surveys report the representation of women in senior executive positions within procurement as both very low and lower than in other professions. In this paper, the authors explored the causes of this. The authors interviewed 41 female and male procurement professionals from a range of sectors and seniority levels. Different views were encountered, but overall the findings suggested that female advancement within procurement is affected by both generic organisational and procurement-specific impediments, including inadequate work design, male-dominated cultures, negative stereotypes, high levels of travel and an aggressive ethos that characterises many procurement functions. The latter was said to be greater where procurement functions lacked ‘cultural maturity’. The findings suggested that both the procurement literature and procurement profession need to do more to address these impediments to female advancement. Ways forward are suggested.     

The decline of the professionally-qualified accounting academic: Recruitment into the accounting academic community

The profile of the accounting academic has changed in recent years. The earliest academics were often recruited from the accountancy profession. Now the typical accounting academic recruit has a profile similar to the rest of the university, with the PhD being the qualification of choice. The reasons for this trend are examined using a cultural and institutional logics framework. The recruitment context and the institutional changes impacting on recruitment in accounting in academia are explored through the views of heads of department who have knowledge of both their institution’s recruitment policies and of the requirements of their discipline. As the research assessment process appears to be a driver of changing recruitment patterns, recruitment is considered in contrasting contexts: Scotland, where periodic research assessment takes place in both old and new universities, and the Republic of Ireland which does not have such a process. Despite differences in the views expressed by heads in these different contexts and differences in their research environments, the trend in all sectors is towards the recruitment (Scotland) or development (Republic of Ireland) of PhD holders rather than professionally qualified staff. The consequences for the nature of the discipline are discussed.     

Selection,Training, and Performance Evaluation of Sales Managers: An Empirical Investigation

ABSTRACT

Despite the important role sales managers play in an organization, little empirical work has explored various facets of their jobs. The state of knowledge regarding this issue is woefully inadequate. To partially address this gap in the sales management literature, this paper reports the results of a study that investigated recruitment/selection, training, and performance evaluation practices vis-à-vis sales managers. Findings suggest that sales managers (irrespective of their company's size or primary market offering) generally rely on subjective recruitment and selection tools and techniques when recruiting sales management candidates, do not feel that any particular job activity is uniquely important or difficult to perform, and consider few evaluation criteria when assaying sales manager performance. Conclusions concerning the study's results are provided.     

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 study of HRM and recruitment and selection policies and practices in Taiwan

In this paper, the authors present and discuss the findings of a survey of human resource management (HRM) and recruitment and selection policies and practices in a sample of manufacturing industry in Taiwan. The results indicate that there is a general desire among HR professionals in participant companies that HRM policies are integrated with corporate strategy and that HRM should be involved in decision making at board level. Evidence was also obtained that some HRM decisions are shared between line management and HR specialists and that line managers had a particularly influential role in decisions regarding recruitment and selection, training and development, and workforce expansion/reduction. There was also some evidence supporting an assertion that certain recruitment and selection practices were culturally sensitive and this was supported by evidence of association between recruitment and selection practices and country of ownership.     

Advertisement Style and the Recruitment of Charity Volunteers

ABSTRACT

Affective, cognitive and conative reactions to (i) altruistically focused, and (ii) egoistically orientated recruitment advertisements for charity volunteers were measured and related to individual differences in altruistic disposition among three sets of respondents. The first sample comprised 51 existing charity shop volunteers; the second consisted of 100 members of the general public who had undertaken some form of voluntary activity during the previous two years; while the third was made up of 100 people who had not completed any voluntary act over the same period. It emerged that although less altruistically inclined people responded more positively to advertisements which emphasised the material and emotional benefits of volunteering, it was not the case that people who displayed high altruistic tendency were more attracted by altruistic recruitment messages. Apparently, individuals with highly altruistic dispositions also preferred recruitment advertisements which listed the egoistical advantages accruing to voluntary work.     

The impact of hiring top workers on productivity: what is the role of absorptive capacity?

We examine the heterogeneous productivity impacts of hiring top workers on small and medium-sized enterprises, exploiting matched employer–employee panel data and employing within-firm as well as matching and difference-in-difference estimators. The results provide robust evidence that the productivity impact is stronger for firms with higher absorptive capacity. Technological laggards within an industry benefit more strongly from hiring top workers if their workforce is more well-educated.