Decision Making And Validation Of HR Recruitment Interview: An Image Theory Perspective

Interview was widely used in human resource management and played a crucial role in personnel decisions. Since the 1980s, empirical studies indicated that interview, particularly structured, had moderate evidence for reliability and validity. The focus of interview studies has shifted from the psychometric indicators of interview to interview dynamic process such as interview decision making. However, there were few interview studies using decision theory perspectives. In addition, a few domestic studies had explored the reliability of interview whereas validation studies were needed.By using questionnaire, field structured interview, and experimentation, the present study, with five sub-studies, attempted to examine the competency-performance modeling, interview decision making process, effects of stages and framing on interview decisions, and validity of compatibility test in interviews. The results were shown as follows.In Study I, we focused on structural analysis and validation of competence components often used in recruitment interview, which provided a base for the multi-trait presentation of images. From semi-structured interview with managers in 16 companies and government agencies, we found that interview was widely used in human resource management as an important component of recruitment and promotion process. In the competence-performance modeling, the result showed four position competence factors - emotional, social, cognitive, and technical ones. Among them, cognitive and technical factors were positively correlated with task performance, and social factor was positively correlated with interpersonal facilitation, while emotional factor was closely linked to all performance dimensions.In Study II, the role of compatibility test in interview decisions was examined. With panel situational interview to select customer service managers for a soft drink company among college students, the results showed that the non-compensatory compatibility between ideal and current images was more closely correlated to interview decision styles than the compensatory profile fit. This suggested thatcompatibility predict interview decision behavior well and the non-compensatory could be an alternative indicator of p-o fit. The results also showed that subjective compatibility perception mediated the relationship between compatibility and interview decisions. Situational interview had satisfactory inter-rater reliability, and leadership experience and openness to experience influenced interview behavior.In Study III, an experiment was conducted to analyze how interview stage and decision framing affected interview decision process. The results suggested that decision in stage two be more consistent than that of stage one. Framing effect was partly supported in the sense that interviewers under recommendation framing were risk seeking and used higher rejection threshold and accepted less applicants than under the rejection framing with risk avoiding implication. Therefore, recommendation framing in an interview seemed more efficient than rejection framing for the screening process. Image compatibility was positively correlated to compatibility perception and the relationship between decision confidence and compatibility was like a U shape with the lowest point at rejection threshold.In Study IV with concurrent design, we investigated validity of compatibility and structured interview as a part of competence assessment for middle managers in a company. The difference between situational and behavioral description interviews was compared. Image compatibility was found closely correlated to self-ratings of overall performance and supervisors' ratings of task performance. Situational interview predicted self-ratings of job performance better. The correlation coefficient between behavioral description interview and supervisory ratings was higher than situational interview. The former had an incremental validity over the later in predicting supervisors' ratings.In study V, construct validity of structur...