Reacting to Perceived Overqualification: Uniting Strain-Based and Self-Regulatory Adjustment Reactions and the Moderating Role of Formal Work Arrangements.

Thus far, research on perceived overqualification has focused on either maladaptive, strain-based versus more adaptive, self-regulatory reactions in isolation. Following person-environment fit theory, we seek to advance this one-sided focus by uniting both types of adjustment reactions and to consider their implications for perceived person-job fit, and performance and wellbeing outcomes. In line with theory, we also examine contextual boundary conditions in the form of indicators of formal work arrangements (i.e., permanent vs. temporary employment contract and job tenure). Utilizing three-wave data from 453 employees, we found that perceived overqualification indirectly and sequentially related to decreases in task performance, organizational citizenship behavior and job satisfaction via anger toward employment situation and lower levels of perceived person-job fit-thus reflecting the strain-based pathway. For the self-regulatory pathway, findings did not align with our initial proposition that the positive relationship between perceived overqualification and work organization (a form of structural job crafting whereby employees improve their work processes) would be weaker among temporary employees and those with longer tenure. Instead, having a temporary employment contract or having longer job tenure resulted in a negative relationship between perceived overqualification and work organization, which further contributed to a decrease in performance and satisfaction via lower levels of perceived person-job fit. Our study highlights the demotivating role of a temporary employment contract and long job tenure for overqualified employees to reorganize their work. In discussing our findings, we point to the importance of job stage and develop recommendations for managing overqualified employees.

Who will go the extra mile? Selecting organizational citizens with a personality-based structured job interview.

Employees' organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) are important drivers of organizational effectiveness. Yet, there exist no established tools for selecting employees with a propensity to engage in OCB. Given that personality traits describe typical behavioral tendencies and are established OCB predictors, we propose that personality assessment is a useful approach for selecting employees who are likely to exhibit OCB. To test this proposition, we developed a structured job interview measuring the Big Five traits and then compared this interview to a personality self-report measure to determine which method of personality assessment works best for selecting organizational citizens. Employees (N = 223) from various occupations participated in the structured job interview and completed the personality self-report in a simulated selection setting. We then obtained supervisor ratings of employees' OCB. Results supported the assumption that structured job interviews can be specifically designed to assess the Big Five personality traits and, most importantly, to predict OCB. Interview ratings of specific personality traits differentially predicted different types of OCB (i.e., OCB-compliance, OCB-helping, and OCB-initiative) and explained incremental variance in OCB over and above personality self-reports and verbal cognitive ability. Taken together, these findings expand our knowledge about dispositional predictors of OCBs, personality assessment in selection, and the design of job interviews.

Enhancing Personality Assessment in the Selection Context: A Study Protocol on Alternative Measures and an Extended Bandwidth of Criteria.

Personality traits describe dispositions influencing individuals' behavior and performance at work. However, in the context of personnel selection, the use of personality measures has continuously been questioned. To date, research in selection settings has focused uniquely on predicting task performance, missing the opportunity to exploit the potential of personality traits to predict non-task performance. Further, personality is often measured with self-report inventories, which are susceptible to self-distortion. Addressing these gaps, the planned study seeks to design new personality measures to be used in the selection context to predict a wide range of performance criteria. Specifically, we will develop a situational judgment test and a behavior description interview, both assessing Big Five personality traits and Honesty-Humility to systematically compare these new measures with traditional self-report inventories regarding their criterion-related validity to predict four performance criteria: task performance, adaptive performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and counterproductive work behavior. Data will be collected in a simulated selection procedure. Based on power analyses, we aim for 200 employed study participants, who will allow us to contact their supervisors to gather criterion data. The results of this study will shed light on the suitability of different personality measures (i.e., situational judgment tests and behavior description interviews) to predict an expanded range of performance criteria.

I am nice and capable! How and when newcomers' self-presentation to their supervisors affects socialization outcomes.

Whereas meta-analytical research draws a relatively unfavorable picture of the usefulness of self-presentation on the job, our study challenges this view by highlighting the benefits of such behaviors during newcomer socialization. Drawing from social influence theory, the current study examines how and when newcomers' self-presentation, in the form of ingratiation and self-promotion, facilitates their socialization success (indicated by affective commitment, job performance, and promotability) by shaping their supervisors' relational and work-based socialization efforts. Data from a time-lagged field study of 355 newcomer-supervisor dyads provided support for the proposed model. In particular, we found that ingratiation was positively related to supervisor relational socialization effort, which in turn was positively related to newcomer affective commitment. Additionally, self-promotion was positively related to supervisor work-based socialization effort, which in turn was positively related to newcomer job performance and promotability. Drawing on social influence theory's notion that characteristics related to the influencer may further affect self-presentation effectiveness, we found that newcomers' interpersonal influence and work role clarity weakened the positive effects of newcomer self-presentation on supervisor socialization efforts. These findings illustrate how newcomers can achieve desirable socialization outcomes by enacting social influence on organizational insiders with self-presentation, extending the literatures on both self-presentation and newcomer socialization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Selling and Smooth-Talking: Effects of Interviewer Impression Management from a Signaling Perspective.

Prior research suggests that interviewers play an important role in representing their organization and in making the interview a pleasant experience for applicants. This study examined whether impression management used by interviewers (organization-enhancement and applicant-enhancement) is perceived by applicants, and how it influences applicants' attitudes, intentions, and emotions. Adopting a signaling perspective, this article argues that applicants' positive attitudes and intentions toward the organization increase if interviewers not only enhance the organization, but if the signals they sent (i.e., organization-enhancement) are actually received by the applicant. Similarly, applicants' positive emotions should increase if interviewers not only enhance the applicant, but if the signals they send (i.e., applicant-enhancement) are actually received by the applicant. A field study that involved video coding interviewers' impression management behavior during 153 selection interviews and pre- and post-interview applicant surveys showed that the signals sent by interviewers during the interview were received by applicants. In addition, applicants rated the organization's prestige and their own positive affect after the interview more positively when they perceived higher levels of organization-enhancement during the interview. Furthermore, applicants reported more positive affect and interview self-efficacy after the interview when they perceived higher levels of interviewer applicant-enhancement. We also found an indirect effect of interviewers' organization-enhancement on organizational prestige through applicants' perceptions of organization-enhancement as well as indirect effects of interviewers' applicant-enhancement on applicants' positive affect and interview self-efficacy through applicants' perceptions of applicant-enhancement. Our findings contribute to an integrated understanding of the effects of interviewer impression management and point out both risks and chances in selling and smooth-talking toward applicants.

Why Do Situational Interviews Predict Performance? Is it Saying How You Would Behave or Knowing How You Should Behave?

PURPOSE: The present study examined two theoretical explanations for why situational interviews predict work-related performance, namely (a) that they are measures of interviewees' behavioral intentions or (b) that they are measures of interviewees' ability to correctly decipher situational demands. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: We tested these explanations with 101 students, who participated in a 2-day selection simulation. FINDINGS: In line with the first explanation, there was considerable similarity between what participants said they would do and their actual behavior in corresponding work-related situations. However, the underlying postulated mechanism was not supported by the data. In line with the second explanation, participants' ability to correctly decipher situational demands was related to performance in both the interview and work-related situations. Furthermore, the relationship between the interview and performance in the work-related situations was partially explained by this ability to decipher situational demands. IMPLICATIONS: Assessing interviewees' ability to identify criteria might be of additional value for making selection decisions, particularly for jobs where it is essential to assess situational demands. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The present study made an effort to open the 'black box' of situational interview validity by examining two explanations for their validity. The results provided only moderate support for the first explanation. However, the second explanation was fully supported by these results.

How and why do interviewers try to make impressions on applicants? A qualitative study.

To remain viable in today's highly competitive business environments, it is crucial for organizations to attract and retain top candidates. Hence, interviewers have the goal not only of identifying promising applicants but also of representing their organization. Although it has been proposed that interviewers' deliberate signaling behaviors are a key factor for attracting applicants and thus for ensuring organizations' success, no conceptual model about impression management (IM) exists from the viewpoint of the interviewer as separate from the applicant. To develop such a conceptual model on how and why interviewers use IM, our qualitative study elaborates signaling theory in the interview context by identifying the broad range of impressions that interviewers intend to create on applicants, what kinds of signals interviewers deliberately use to create their intended impressions, and what outcomes they pursue. Following a grounded theory approach, multiple raters analyzed in-depth interviews with interviewers and applicants. We also observed actual employment interviews and analyzed memos and image brochures to generate a conceptual model of interviewer IM. Results showed that the spectrum of interviewers' IM intentions goes well beyond what has been proposed in past research. Furthermore, interviewers apply a broad range of IM behaviors, including verbal and nonverbal as well as paraverbal, artifactual, and administrative behaviors. An extensive taxonomy of interviewer IM intentions, behaviors, and intended outcomes is developed, interrelationships between these elements are presented, and avenues for future research are derived.

Trade-offs between assessor team size and assessor expertise in affecting rating accuracy in assessment centers / Trade-offs entre tamaño del equipo evaluador y pericia del evaluador y su efecto sobre la precisión de la valoración en los assessment centers

We investigated the effects of assessor team size on the accuracy of ratings in a presentation exercise as it is commonly used in assessment centers and compared it to the effects of two factors related to assessor expertise (assessor training and assessor background). On the basis of actual ratings from a simulated selection setting (N = 383), we sampled assessor teams of different sizes and with different expertise and determined the accuracy of their ratings in the presentation exercise. Of the three factors, assessor training had the strongest effect on rating accuracy. Furthermore, in most conditions, using larger assessor teams also led to more accurate ratings. In addition, the use of larger assessor teams compensated for having not attended an assessor training only when the assessors had a psychological background. Concerning assessor background, we did not find a significant main effect. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed(AU)

Investigamos los efectos del tamaño del equipo evaluador sobre la precisión de las valoraciones en un ejercicio de presentación tal como es habitualmente utilizado en los AC y lo comparamos con los efectos de dos factores relacionados con la pericia del evaluador (entrenamiento e historial). Sobre las valoraciones en una situación simulada de selección (N = 383), muestreamos equipos de evaluadores de diferente tamaño y con diferente pericia y determinamos la precisión de sus valoraciones en el ejercicio de presentación. De los tres factores, el entrenamiento de evaluadores tuvo el efecto más fuerte sobre la precisión de la valoración. Además, en la mayoría de las condiciones, usar equipos con mayor número de evaluador también da lugar a valoraciones más precisas. También, el uso de equipos mayores compensó la falta de asistencia de un valorador al entrenamiento cuando los evaluadores tenían formación psicológica. En relación con esto último, no encontramos un efecto principal significativo. Se comentan las implicaciones para la práctica y la investigación futura(AU)

Situation assessment as an ignored factor in the behavioral consistency paradigm underlying the validity of personnel selection procedures.

This study contributes to the literature on why selection procedures that are based on the behavioral consistency logic (e.g., structured interviews and assessment centers) are valid predictors of job performance. We rely on interactionist theories to propose that individual differences in assessing situational demands explain true variance in performance in selection procedures and on the job. Results from 124 individuals in a simulated selection process showed that the assessment of situational demands was related to both selection and job performance. Individual differences in assessing situational demands also contributed to the criterion-related validity of assessment center and structured interview ratings, offering a complementary explanation as to why selection procedures based on the notion of behavioral consistency predict job performance.

Catch me if I fall! Enacted uncertainty avoidance and the social safety net as country-level moderators in the job insecurity-job attitudes link.

Job insecurity is related to many detrimental outcomes, with reduced job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment being the 2 most prominent reactions. Yet, effect sizes vary greatly, suggesting the presence of moderator variables. On the basis of Lazarus's cognitive appraisal theory, we assumed that country-level enacted uncertainty avoidance and a country's social safety net would affect an individual's appraisal of job insecurity. More specifically, we hypothesized that these 2 country-level variables would buffer the negative relationships between job insecurity and the 2 aforementioned job attitudes. Combining 3 different data sources, we tested the hypotheses in a sample of 15,200 employees from 24 countries by applying multilevel modeling. The results confirmed the hypotheses that both enacted uncertainty avoidance and the social safety net act as cross-level buffer variables. Furthermore, our data revealed that the 2 cross-level interactions share variance in explaining the 2 job attitudes. Our study responds to calls to look at stress processes from a multilevel perspective and highlights the potential importance of governmental regulation when it comes to individual stress processes.

Time management problems and discounted utility.

The lens of behavioral decision theory offers a new perspective for research on time management. The basic idea of this approach is that people discount future consequences of their time management decisions, meaning that they work on tasks with smaller but sooner outcomes rather than on tasks with larger but later outcomes. The authors performed 2 experimental studies to test whether people are sensitive to differences in the discounted utility of time management decisions. In Experiment 1, they used vignettes of typical time management situations; Experiment 2 was a laboratory simulation (an in-basket task that was part of a training assessment). Participants in both studies were German students. As expected, manipulating the discounted utility of options resulted in different time management decisions. In Experiment 1, reactions to time management situations were judged as less likely if the reactions had lower discounted utilities. In Experiment 2, people spent less time on an interruption.

Deadline rush: a time management phenomenon and its mathematical description.

A typical time management phenomenon is the rush before a deadline. Behavioral decision making research can be used to predict how behavior changes before a deadline. People are likely not to work on a project with a deadline in the far future because they generally discount future outcomes. Only when the deadline is close are people likely to work. On the basis of recent intertemporal choice experiments, the authors argue that a hyperbolic function should provide a more accurate description of the deadline rush than an exponential function predicted by an economic model of discounted utility. To show this, the fit of the hyperbolic and the exponential function were compared with data sets that describe when students study for exams. As predicted, the hyperbolic function fit the data significantly better than the exponential function. The implication for time management decisions is that they are most likely to be inconsistent over time (i.e., people make a plan how to use their time but do not follow it).