Employee recruitment, selection, and assessment

EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT,

SELECTION, AND ASSESSMENT

Personnel selection is changing. Whilst traditional face-to-face interviews are still

common, the range of assessment processes that inform the selection of candidates

is increasingly diverse, taking advantage not only of new technologies but also new

methods and strategies, such as assessment centres and personality testing. This new

collection looks at the most important contemporary issues in recruitment, selec￾tion, and assessment today, highlighting the latest research from the perspective of

both recruiter and applicant.

The book is written by an international range of prominent scholars in this area,

and provides up-to-date analysis of key topic areas, including:

• How measurements of intelligence can impact on recruitment policies

• The use and value of personality tests

• An analysis of social interaction in the interview process

• The value and impact of video resumes in recruitment

• How social networks affect how applicants are perceived

• Job analysis and competencies modelling

Part of the Current Issues in Work and Organizational Psychology series, this is an

important book that shines a light on the latest theory and practice in employee

recruitment. It will interest not only students and researchers of Organizational

Psychology, HRM, and Business and Management, but will also engage profession￾als in the field.

Ioannis Nikolaou is an Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour at Athens

University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece.

Janneke K. Oostrom is an Assistant Professor in Social and Organizational Psychol￾ogy at the VU University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Current Issues in Work and Organizational Psychology

Series Editor: Arnold B. Bakker

Current Issues in Work and Organizational Psychology is a series of edited books that

reflect the state-of-the-art areas of current and emerging interest in the psychologi￾cal study of employees, workplaces and organizations.

Each volume is tightly focused on a particular topic and consists of seven to ten

chapters contributed by international experts. The editors of individual volumes are

leading figures in their areas and provide an introductory overview.

Example topics include digital media at work, work and the family, workaholism,

modern job design, positive occupational health, and individualised deals.

A Day in the Life of a Happy Worker

Edited by Arnold B. Bakker and Kevin Daniels

The Psychology of Digital Media atWork

Edited by Daantje Derks and Arnold B. Bakker

New Frontiers in Work and Family Research

Edited by Joseph G. Grzywacz and Evangelia Demerouti

Time and Work, Volume 1: How time impacts individuals

Edited by Abbie J. Shipp and Yitzhak Fried

Time and Work, Volume 2: How time impacts groups,

organizations and methodological choices

Edited by Abbie J. Shipp and Yitzhak Fried

Burnout at Work: A psychological perspective

Edited by Michael P. Leiter, Arnold B. Bakker, and Christina Maslach

Towards Inclusive Organizations: Determinants of successful

diversity management at work

Edited by Sabine Otten, Karen van der Zee, and Marilynn Brewer

Well-being and Performance at Work: The role of context

Edited by Marc van Veldhoven and Riccardo Peccei

Employee Recruitment, Selection, and Assessment:

Contemporary issues for theory and practice

Edited by Ioannis Nikolaou and Janneke K. Oostrom

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EMPLOYEE

RECRUITMENT,

SELECTION, AND

ASSESSMENT

Contemporary issues for

theory and practice

Edited by

Ioannis Nikolaou

and Janneke K. Oostrom

First published 2015

by Psychology Press

27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA

and by Psychology Press

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Psychology Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa

business

© 2015 Ioannis Nikolaou and Janneke K. Oostrom

The right of Ioannis Nikolaou and Janneke K. Oostrom to be identified as

author of this part of the Work has been asserted by him/her in accordance

with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or

utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now

known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any

information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the

publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered

trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent

to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Employee recruitment, selection, and assessment : contemporary issues for

theory and practice / edited by Ioannis Nikolaou and Janneke K. Oostrom.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Employee selection. 2. Employee retention. 3. Personnel management.

I. Nikolaou, Ioannis. II. Oostrom, Janneke K.

HF5549.5.S38E47 2015

658.3'11—dc23

2014046731

ISBN: 978-1-138-82325-9 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-82326-6 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-74217-5 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

CONTENTS

List of contributors ix

Introduction 1

Ioannis Nikolaou and Janneke K. Oostrom

PART A

Job analysis and recruitment 7

1 Work analysis for personnel selection 9

Antonio León García-Izquierdo, Luis Díaz Vilela,

and Silvia Moscoso

2 Recruitment processes and organizational attraction 27

Derek S. Chapman and David Mayers

PART B

The applicants’ perspective 43

3 Video résumés portrayed: findings and challenges 45

Annemarie M.F. Hiemstra and Eva Derous

4 Social networking websites and personnel selection:

a call for academic research 61

Donald H. Kluemper, H. Kristl Davison,

Xiaoyun Cao, and BingqingWu

viii Contents

5 Applicant reactions to selection methods: an overview

of recent research and suggestions for the future 80

Ioannis Nikolaou, Talya N. Bauer, and Donald M. Truxillo

PART C

Advances in predictors’ research 97

6 New developments in intelligence theory

and assessment: implications for personnel selection 99

Charles Scherbaum, Harold Goldstein, Rachel Ryan,

Paul Agnello, Ken Yusko, and Paul Hanges

7 Personality testing in personnel selection: Love it? Leave it?

Understand it! 117

Janina Diekmann and Cornelius J. König

8 Trends in testing: highlights of a global survey 136

Ann Marie Ryan, Ilke Inceoglu, Dave Bartram, Juliya

Golubovich, James Grand, Matthew Reeder, Eva Derous,

Ioannis Nikolaou, and XiangYao

9 Beyond validity: shedding light on the social

situation in employment interviews 154

Klaus G. Melchers, Pia V. Ingold, Annika Wilhelmy, and Martin Kleinmann

10 Situational judgment testing: a review and some new developments 172

Janneke K. Oostrom, Britt De Soete, and Filip Lievens

11 Assessment centres: the latest developments on construct validity 190

Deon Meiring, Jurgen Becker, Suzanne Gericke, and Nadia Louw

PART D

The criterion domain 207

12 Selecting for innovation: methods of assessment and the

criterion problem 209

Kristina Potocˇnik, Neil Anderson, and Felisa Latorre

13 Typical and maximum performance 228

Ute-Christine Klehe, Jessica Grazi, and Tusharika Mukherjee

Index 245

CONTRIBUTORS

Paul Agnello, Baruch College, City University of New York, USA

Neil Anderson, Brunel University, London, UK

Dave Bartram, CEB’s SHL Talent Measurement Solutions, and University of

Pretoria, South Africa

Talya N. Bauer, Portland State University, USA

Jurgen Becker, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Xiaoyun Cao, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA

Derek S. Chapman, University of Calgary, Canada

H. Kristl Davison, University of Mississippi, USA

Eva Derous, Ghent University, Belgium

Britt De Soete, Ghent University, Belgium

Luis Diaz Vilela, Universidad de la Laguna, Spain

Janina Diekmann, Universität des Saarlandes, Germany

Antonio León García-Izquierdo, Universidad de Oviedo, Spain

x Contributors

Suzanne Gericke, University of Pretoria, South Africa, and EOH Human Capital

Solutions, Pretoria, South Africa

Harold Goldstein, Baruch College, City University of New York, USA

Juliya Golubovich, Educational Testing Service ETS, USA

James Grand, University of Akron, USA

Jessica Grazi, Justus Liebig Universität Giessen, Germany

Paul Hanges, University of Maryland, USA

Annemarie M.F. Hiemstra, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Ilke Inceoglu, Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, UK

Pia V. Ingold, Universität Zürich, Switzerland

Ute-Christine Klehe, Justus Liebig Universität Giessen, Germany

Martin Kleinmann, Universität Zürich, Switzerland

Donald H. Kluemper, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA

Cornelius J. König, Universität des Saarlandes, Germany

Felisa Latorre, ITAM, México City, México

Filip Lievens, Ghent University, Belgium

Nadia Louw, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

David Mayers, University of Calgary, Canada

Deon Meiring, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Klaus G. Melchers, Universität Ulm, Germany

Silvia Moscoso, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Tusharika Mukherjee, Justus Liebig Universität Giessen, Germany

Ioannis Nikolaou, Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece

Contributors xi

Janneke K. Oostrom, VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Kristina Potocˇnik, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Matthew Reeder, APT Metrics, USA

Ann Marie Ryan, Michigan State University, USA

Rachel Ryan, Baruch College, City University of New York, USA

Charles Scherbaum, Baruch College, City University of New York, USA

Donald M. Truxillo, Portland State University, USA

Annika Wilhelmy, Universität Zürich, Switzerland

Bingqing Wu, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA

Xiang Yao, Peking University, China

Ken Yusko, Marymount University, USA

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INTRODUCTION

Ioannis Nikolaou

ATHENS UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS, GREECE

Janneke K. Oostrom

VU UNIVERSITY AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

The field of employee recruitment, selection, and assessment has traditionally been

one of the most energetic and active domains of research and practice in the field

of Work and Organizational Psychology. Numerous psychology graduates are

employed in human resource management (HRM) consultancies, HRM depart￾ments, and in specialized work psychology/psychological testing firms, involved in

staffing, recruitment, selection, and assessment in countries worldwide. Moreover,

it has also been one of the first fields to attract researchers’ and practitioners’ atten￾tion both in Europe and the United States (Salgado, Anderson, & Hülsheger, 2010).

Therefore, the Current Issues in Work and Organizational Psychology series would not

be complete without a book devoted to the field of employee recruitment, selec￾tion, and assessment.

In the most recent review of selection research published in the Annual

Review of Psychology, Ryan and Ployhart (2014) claimed, however, that despite

the long-standing employee selection research and practice, the field is still full of

controversies, exploring “settled” questions, working on “intractable” challenges,

expanding into literatures and organizational levels far removed from those his￾torically investigated, and constantly being pushed by practitioners, who continu￾ally are confronting questions to which researchers have not yet produced answers

(pp. 694–695). In order to describe the current state of affairs, Ryan and Ployhart

(2014) describe selection research as a “highly active senior who has not been

slowed down by age” (p. 695).

The development of the field is evident in the increasing number of studies

appearing in both mainstream work and organizational psychology journals but

also in specialized journals (e.g., International Journal of Selection and Assessment).

Also, a number of influential handbooks have recently been published both in

the United States and Europe. Moreover, the number of conference papers and

2 Ioannis Nikolaou and Janneke K. Oostrom

symposia presented at international conferences, such as the Society for Indus￾trial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the European Association of Work

and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), the Academy of Management (AoM)

and the International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP), dealing with issues

related to employee recruitment, selection, and assessment has been steadily increas￾ing during the last few years.

Recent research in employee selection has also shifted its focus from the tradi￾tional selection paradigm, that is, the relationship between the predictor and the

criterion, towards other important issues. For example, there is increased inter￾est in different selection methods (e.g., situational judgment tests), in the role of

technology and the Internet in recruitment and selection (e.g., video resumes and

the effect of social networking websites), in the applicants’ perspective (e.g., trust,

fairness, and applicant reactions research), in the use of new statistical and method￾ological approaches (e.g., multilevel analysis and diary studies), in ethical issues and

adverse impact, in high-stakes selection, and so forth.

Another recent development in the field, with a European focus, has been the

creation of the European Network of Selection Researchers (ENESER). The ENESER’s

objective is to advance selection research in Europe, to bring together research￾ers carrying out applied research in the field of employee recruitment, selection,

and assessment, and to act as a network for work and organizational psycholo￾gists conducting research in this field. The ENESER has already organized three

small-scale conferences (Athens, 2011; Sheffield, 2012; Ghent, 2014) and aims to

continue organizing conferences on a biannual basis, along with symposia and

practitioner-oriented fora at international conferences (e.g., EAWOP, SIOP, AoM,

ICAP). Both the editors and many of the authors of the current volume are mem￾bers of the ENESER.

Structure of the book

We have structured the content of the current volume into four parts. The first

part (Part A) of the book deals with the cornerstone of any personnel selection

process, work analysis, along with a chapter on recruitment and organizational

attraction. The second part of the book (Part B) deals with the applicants’ per￾spective. Specifically, the three chapters of this part deal with video resumes,

with the role of social networking websites, and with applicant reactions to

selection methods. The remaining two parts deal with the traditional domains of

predictor-criterion research in selection. In the third part (Part C), we explore

recent developments regarding predictors, namely intelligence tests, interviews,

situational judgment tests, and assessment centers. In the fourth and last part

(Part D), our contributors review the literature on criteria, specifically on the

role of innovation as a criterion and the typical versus maximum performance

issue.

More specifically, García-Izquierdo, Díaz Vilela, and Moscoso, in the first chap￾ter of our book, discuss the important role of work analysis in personnel selection.

They initially describe the two main types of work analysis, namely task-oriented