Employer (Ir)rationality and the Demise of Employment References

Abstract

3, a t 25. A recent survey indicated that 41 percent of human resources professionals currently work for companies that have formal written policies that outside references will not be provided. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE AND PROFESSIONAL RECRUITERS, INC., FOURTH ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP SURVEY RESULTS 39 (1989). See also 114 PERSONNEL POLICIES FORUM (BNA) 16-20 (1976). This latter source indicates that most companies during the 1970's were willing to answer written requests for information on former employees.

Personnel selection as a signaling game.

“…Thus, writers often face a kind of prisoner's dilemma: If they are honest (e.g., by mentioning negative as well as positive information) while others are not, the applicants they recommend will be at a disadvantage. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that applicants have implicit ways of pressuring the writer (e.g., threat of litigation, access to the letter; Farrell & Gibbons, 1989; Paetzold & Wilborn, 1992). Interestingly, mistrust of the content of letters of recommendation has also led to counteradaptations.…”

The Exception as the Rule: Negligent Hiring Liability, Structured Uncertainty, and the Rise of Criminal Background Checks in the United States

“…36. A reference-based defamation claim includes the following elements: a false statement about an employee; the publication of this statement to a third party, such as a prospective employer; and harm to the employee's reputation as a result of the statement (Paetzold and Willborn 1992). Negligence is the minimum standard in such cases where "employers can be held liable for a false statement only if they were negligent in attempting to ensure the truthfulness of the statement" (130).…”