Selecting you, selecting meSimilarity biases in personnel selection and negotiation

Resumo

This dissertation examines the impact that perceptions of similarity have on two important contexts such as personnel selection and international negotiation. In the first part, we will investigate the impact demographic similarity between a recruiter and a job applicant has on recruiters’ job fit perceptions about the job applicants. Across 5 studies this dissertation makes three main contributions to the literature. First, from a conceptual perspective, our research aims to test the quality of the relationship (direct or indirect) between similarity perceptions and job fit perceptions and to systematically address the psychological mechanisms underlying these effects. Second, our research extends the work of García et al. (2008), in that our design contains both cognitive and emotional mechanisms for the effect of liking on job fit perceptions. In our design, we hypothesize that liking mediates the relationship between similarity perceptions and job fit perceptions through emotional, cognitive, and motivational sequential mediators. Third, our study also proposes a boundary condition for the effect on similarity perceptions: different levels of job desirability in a recruitment context, such when job desirability is low, the effect of demographic similarity on perceived similarity is reversed. Moreover, we explore emotional and cognitive mechanisms behind the effects of similarity perceptions on job fit. The sample for the four experimental studies comprises Master’s students of human resources management and for the field study members of a selection jury. The data shows that the effects of similarity are not always positive for job fit perceptions. The studies provide evidence that when recruiters perceive applicants as similar to themselves in a resume pre-screening situation, biased evaluations occur. The same biased evaluations also occur in a selection interview process in the field study. In the second part of the thesis, we focus on the role that perceptions of similarity play in a negotiation context and its impact on the results of the negotiation. This relationship has not been studied before in a negotiation context, one experimental study and one field study attempt to shed some light on the issue. The sample for the two studies comprises management master’s students of a school of management in the north of France. The data shows that the effects of similarity increase trust between parties and the willingness to make concessions, as well as improve the results of the negotiation. The studies provide evidence about differences in intra (same culture) and intercultural (different culture) negotiations.