Date of Award
12-2009
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Legacy Department
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Committee Chair/Advisor
Kowalski, Robin
Committee Member
Raymark , Patrick
Committee Member
Britt , Thomas W
Committee Member
Switzer, III , Fred S
Abstract
Restricted by limited time and resources, job applicants are often required to make decisions based on their own estimations of an organization's likelihood to extend a job offer. These estimations, or offer expectancies, may be linked to several applicant attitudes and behaviors that have yet to be examined fully in the literature (e.g., job pursuit or information seeking behaviors, search expansion, etc.). We know relatively little about how these perceptions are formed. In this study, actual job applicants were asked to report their perceptions of and behavioral intentions towards organizations that they are currently applying to but have not yet been offered jobs with. In a follow-up survey, applicants were asked to report whether they engaged in certain of these behaviors. The research found that both social comparisons to other applicants and application self-efficacy operated as antecedents of offer expectancies. Furthermore, offer expectancies were found to predict job pursuit intentions and behaviors, as well as information-seeking intentions. Finally, selection-stage was found to moderate the relationship between offer expectancies and job-pursuit intentions such that in later stages applicants were more likely to report intentions to pursue the organization if they had very positive expectations of receiving the offer. This relationship was weak for less positive expectations. Organizations may benefit by understanding what drives applicant decisions to withdraw early from a process, and manage expectations where appropriate.
Recommended Citation
Millard, Matthew, "Job Offer Expectancies: An Analysis of Antecedents, Outcomes and Moderated Effects" (2009). All Dissertations. 467.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/467