The effect of applicant–employee fit and temporal construal on employer attraction and pursuit intentions

Abstract

Although applicant-employee fit has emerged as an important topic in recruitment research, little is known about how job seekers' perceived similarity with the employees working for an organization affects employer attraction. In this research, we introduce temporal construal as a crucial moderating variable and study how the temporal decision context affects the weighting of applicant-employee fit. In particular, we argue that applicant-employee fit is construed in abstract, high-level terms, and exerts a stronger influence when prospective applicants hold a distant time perspective. In contrast, instrumental attributes such as pay level represent low-level construals and gain greater relevance when prospective applicants hold a near time perspective. Two experiments involving a student sample and a sample of unemployed job seekers supported these predictions.

Applicant–Employee Fit in Personality: Testing predictions from similarity‐attraction theory and trait activation theory

“…For example, is applicant–employee fit more important early or late in the job search process? One tentative possibility is that broad types of fit, as captured by person–organization fit, are more important early in the recruitment process whereas more specific types of fit, such as applicant–employee fit and person–job fit, are important later in the process as the applicant is closer to making a decision (Von Walter et al, ).…”

“…For employee conscientiousness, the same operationalization as in Study 1 was used. Based on Von Walter et al (), we manipulated pay level as a salary that is either in line with or above the market average. In addition, we added information, which was consistent across the testimonials, about the organization, job, and employee.…”

“…In the recruitment context, however, most studies have investigated whether fit with the organization (e.g., Cable & Judge, ) or job (e.g., Carless, ) is related to employer attractiveness. Only a few studies have examined the compatibility of applicant and employee characteristics (i.e., applicant–employee fit) (Devendorf & Highhouse, ; Von Walter, Wentzel, & Tomczak, ) and, to the best of our knowledge, none of these have investigated fit in personality traits.…”

“…For example, Devendorf and Highhouse () found that the similarity between the self‐image of female college students and the image of prototypical employees at retail stores (in terms of being seen as conservative, sporty, or alternative) predicted organizational attractiveness. Additionally, Von Walter et al () found that value similarity between applicants and employees (with respect to stimulation and femininity) was positively related to employer attraction. Hence, based on the conceptualization of fit as similarity, one would expect that applicants will be more attracted to organizations with employees who have similar (vs. dissimilar) personality characteristics, expressing a supplementary fit effect.…”

Mitarbeiterkommunikation aus Sicht der Markenführung

“…Zum einen beschäftigen sich einige Arbeiten mit der Frage, welche psychologischen, strukturellen und kulturellen Voraussetzungen ein markenkonsistentes Mitarbeiterverhalten begünstigen (Henkel et al 2007;Herrmann et al 2002;Löhndorf und Diamantopolous 2014;Morhart et al 2009Morhart et al , 2012. Ein weiterer Forschungsstrang befasst sich hingegen mit der Frage, welche Instrumente und Maßnahmen ein Unternehmen im Rahmen des Behavioral Branding gewinnbringend einsetzen kann (Brexendorf et al 2012;Henkel et al 2009;von Walter et al 2012von Walter et al , 2016Wentzel et al 2008Wentzel et al , 2010Wentzel et al , 2014. Diese beiden Aspekte sollen in den beiden folgenden Abschnitten beleuchtet werden.…”