chap 9
Chapter 9: Recruitment and Selection in an Internet Context
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Introduction
Impact of technology on recruitment.
Importance of assessment and its role in Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS).
Johnson, Kavanagh, Carlson, Human Resource Information Systems, Fifth Edition © SAGE Publications, 2021.
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CLASS OBJECTIVES:
COVER THE FOLLOWING.
What recruiting objectives, advantages, and disadvantages are being met through the use of online recruitment?
Impact of technology on recruitment:
The objectives of recruitment, based on the model of Breaugh and Starke, include:
The cost and speed of filling a job opening. About 70% Faster than traditional -
The psychological contract fulfillment, employee satisfaction, and retention rates. – What do these mean? reciprocal obligations between them and the company.
The quality and quantity of applicants, as well as the diversity of applicants. – explain
Tell me about the websites you all wrote about in your discussions. Some great points.
The chapter also discusses impact of the attributes of the organizational website on applications and the use of social networking.
The relationship between e-recruitment and Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) is also explained.
Importance of assessment and its role in HRIS:
This is addressed in the discussion on the selection process.
Issues around technology, such as validity, computerized assessment, security, and proctoring, are also discussed.
The integration of HRIS with the function of selection and assessment is analyzed, along with the value of selection with HRIS selection applications.
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Recruitment and Technology (1 of 8)
Goal of recruitment function.
Use of technology in recruitment.
Online recruitment.
Issues with online recruitment.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 1: Understand the relationship between the Internet and organizational recruiting objectives.
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY RECRUITMENT?
Goal of recruitment function:
Identify, attract, and hire the most qualified people (Cascio, 2019).
There is fierce competition for talent in the labor market, as a result of which companies are compelled to expand their search for applicants beyond local and domestic borders.
Use of technology in recruitment:
Organizations have started using different technologies to attract job applicants.
These technologies include the Internet, social media, mobile recruitment, and artificial intelligence.
Online recruitment:
According to Smith (2015), more than 54% of job seekers look online for jobs. After COVID – research has shown that number at 80%.
Online recruitment is the use of technologies, such as websites and social media, to find and attract potential job applicants, to keep them interested in the organization during the selection processes, and to influence their job choice decisions (Chapman & Godollei, 2017).
Issues with online recruitment:
It is important to consider whether online recruitment enables organizations to meet their recruiting objectives.
Equally important is the consideration whether it provides applicants with the means of obtaining jobs.
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Recruitment and Technology (2 of 8)
What recruiting objectives are being met through the use of online recruitment?
Cost of Filling the Job Opening.
Speed of Filling Job Vacancies.
Johnson, Kavanagh, Carlson, Human Resource Information Systems, Fifth Edition © SAGE Publications, 2021.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 2: Discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of online recruitment in the framework of recruiting objectives.
Question 1.
What recruiting objectives are being met through the use of online recruitment?
Objectives of recruitment:
Breaugh and Starke (2000) identified the following objectives:
Cost of filling job vacancies.
Speed of filling job vacancies.
Psychological contract fulfilment.
Satisfaction and retention rates.
Quality and quantity of applicants.
Diversity of applicants.
Recruitment Objective: Cost of Filling the Job Opening:
Organizations strive to minimize cost of filling job vacancies,
The average cost of recruiting and hiring someone is over $4,100 and the average time it takes to fill a given position is 42 days (SHRM, 2016).
Existing research shows that online recruitment helps to reduce costs.
However, it is important to fully map out existing recruitment processes, identify important bottlenecks in the recruitment process, and assess how these may align with a technology’s capabilities before organizations can decide on using online recruitment.
The use of an applicant tracking system (ATS) can reduce the administrative burden of online recruitment.
The incorporation of automatic screening capabilities can also serve this purpose.
Organizations also need to track the effectiveness of online recruitment through common recruitment metrics.
Moreover, monitoring conversion rates, that is the number of views as opposed to the number of people who actually complete the application, can also help assess the effectiveness of online recruitment.
A study of large organizations in the UK showed that about 40% of such organizations considered online recruitment to be more effective than traditional recruitment.
Recruitment Objective: Speed of Filling Job Vacancies:
Online recruitment is about 70% faster than traditional methods.
It allows organizations to spend less time gathering and sorting data from applicants.
Data from 50 Fortune 500 companies demonstrate that the use of online recruitment reduced their average hiring cycle time of 43 days by 6 days.
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Recruitment and Technology (3 of 8)
The Impact of Online Recruitment on Recruitment Objectives
Recruitment Objective: Psychological Contract Fulfillment.
Recruitment Objective: Quantity, Quality, and Diversity of Applicants.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 2: Discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of online recruitment in the framework of recruiting objectives.
Recruitment Objective: Psychological Contract Fulfillment, Employee Satisfaction, and Retention Rates:
Psychological contract: Refers to the employees’ beliefs about the reciprocal obligations and promises between them and their organizations.
Psychological contract fulfilment, employee satisfaction, and retention rates have a close relationship.
Employees are dissatisfied and are likely to leave organizations if they believe their psychological contracts with the organization have been breached.
Many types of expectations shape the psychological contract, including the work role, social relations, economic rewards, and company culture.
Chen et al. (2012) found that online applicants’ perceptions of organizational culture positively influence the perception of their fit choice of organization to work.
Braddy et al. found websites that incorporated culture-specific, or relevant, testimonials would more strongly convey culture perceptions to viewers.
A mismatch between the organizational culture and the cultural expectations of the new recruit can result in turnover.
Therefore, it is critical to communicate these expectations during the recruitment phase.
It is important that organizations communicate with applicants in a timely and meaningful manner to avoid potential violations of psychological contracts.
Organizations must also minimize or avoid providing information that is inaccurate overly optimistic, or vague.
Making real-time changes to the organization’s website content also helps to keep information accurate and up to date.
These facts are borne out in the findings by Allen, Mahto, and Otondo (2007).
Realistic Recruitment Message: A message that describes the organization and the job as they truly are without sugar-coating.
A realistic job preview is an important tool used by organizations to show applicants the positive and negative attributes of a job.
Realistic culture preview: A realistic culture preview allows an organization to expand beyond the traditional job information and provide information about the company philosophy, value systems, history, diversity, salary structure, and benefits.
This is vital for constructing realistic expectations in forming the psychological contract.
This information could also help develop a better relationship between the organization and the applicant.
Research suggests that applicants feel they have a better chance of collecting realistic information from websites than from traditional sources which makes online recruitment critical.
Employment Brand Messages: A company’s employment brand is often based on the organization’s well-known values or distinctive image and culture.
It can be a powerful tool for attracting applicants.
Three out of four job seekers consider the brand of a prospective employer before even applying for a job (CareerArc, 2015).
Moreover, the current brand or reputation of an organization’s product and services can also attract applicants.
However, only 57% of organizations utilize this approach (CareerArc, 2015).
Recruitment Objective: Quantity, Quality, and Diversity of Applicants:
Quantity of Applicants:
Organizations must have methods in place to screen out applicants who are not qualified.
The use of applicant tracking systems allow searching for resumes based on keywords form the job description or job specifications.
However, caution must be exercised when using keyword searches as applicants may tailor the content of their resumes to the words in the job descriptions so that they may pass through ATS.
Therefore, human resources (HR) professionals must ensure that keywords are strictly job-related and not picking up on dimensions covered by equal employment laws.
Quality and Diversity of Applicants:
There exist ethnic differences in the use of online recruiting, arising out of lack of access to computers, lack of computer skills, and poverty.
However, research data on ethnicity and online recruitment usage have been found to be contradictory, as have the evidence on gender and online recruitment.
Existing data also point to age differences in online recruitment.
The use of online job searches increases with education, income, and proximity to more urban/suburban locations (Perrin & Turner, 2019).
Adverse impact occurs when unintentional discrimination towards protected groups occurs in a company’s hiring process.
Adverse impact may lead to legal issues and also cause the organization to miss out on high-quality talent.
The design of a recruitment portal is an important consideration as research suggests that 60% of job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications if it is too long or too complex (Zielinski, 2016).
Passive job seeker is a currently employed individual who is not actively seeking employment but could be enticed if a particular opportunity came their way.
At present, they make up 70% of the labor market.
Solely relying on online recruitment can lead to the overall composition of the workforce becoming less diverse and less qualified.
Organizations must align their recruiting strategies with their overall business strategies to create competitive advantage (Becker & Gerhart, 1996; Wright & Snell, 1998).
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Recruitment and Technology (4 of 8)
Attributes of the Recruiting Website
Website design.
Navigability.
Content information.
Media richness theory.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 2: Discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of online recruitment in the framework of recruiting objectives.
Website design:
Affects the acceptance and effectiveness of online recruiting.
The extent to which the website is usable or not has been referred to as website usability (Cober et al., 2003; Karat, 1997; Nielsen, 2000).
Navigability: The overall ease with which a user can browse through multiple web pages to locate topics of interest.
Current information and active hyperlinks essential in maintaining user interest within the site.
Organizations can use the “three-click” rule for users to locate information of interest.
Content information: The degree to which the website hosts relevant information that the user deems valuable and informative in nature.
Media richness theory: Communication effectiveness is a function of the degree to which media sources reduce user uncertainty and equivocality.
It can explain why hosting relevant content information is beneficial to applicants.
Walker et al. have shown that when organizations posted employee testimonials on their employment Web pages, their sites generated greater organizational attraction.
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Recruitment and Technology (5 of 8)
Attributes of the Recruiting Website
Self-selection behavior.
Aesthetic features.
Website usability.
Recruiting- and screening-oriented website.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 2: Discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of online recruitment in the framework of recruiting objectives.
Self-selection behavior: To apply or not apply for a job within the organization.
1. An applicant is likelier to engage in this behavior when an organization provides more customizable information on its web page.
Aesthetic features: The overall stylistic or innovative aspects of a website, such as contrasting colors, pictures, animation, and playfulness, which keep the user engaged while he or she navigates through multiple web pages.
These innovative features may act as “signals” for applicants about broader organizational attributes.
These are especially important for entrepreneurial or smaller firms on the lookout for qualified applicants.
Website usability and attributes:
Allen et al. found that that website attributes are positively related to applicants’ intentions to pursue employment and applying for it within an organization.
Selden and Orenstein established the positive relation between website usability and applicant pool quantity
Recruiting- and screening-oriented website: A website with the capability to list job openings and accept applications through a secure server.
In contrast, a solely recruiting website merely hosts a list of job openings with the option of submitting an application via mail, e-mail, or fax.
An organization can also post its job opportunities on a third-party vendor’s website, including a hyperlink that connects the applicant to the organization’s home web page.
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Recruitment and Technology (6 of 8)
Recruitment Strategies and Social Networking
Social relationships and networking.
Social networking websites.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 3: Discuss recruitment strategies and social networking.
Social relationships and networking:
Organizations have always used these to attract talent.
As a result, social networking sites have gained in popularity.
These allow recruitment professionals to source, contact, and screen both active and passive job candidates.
Social networking websites (SNWs):
Despite their benefits, SNWs have given rise to several concerns.
The concerns relate to their proliferation, targeted applicant pool, use in selection, saliency of more negative profile information than positive, and merit as a worthwhile recruiting source.
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Recruitment and Technology (7 of 8)
Advancing Online Recruitment with New Technologies
Mobile technology.
The Digital Divide.
Artificial intelligence.
Chatbots.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 4: Discuss new technological advances in online recruitment.
Mobile technology:
Through its connection with an ATS, mobile technology allow recruiters to receive and view candidates, view calendars, and to make notes about candidates, all from their smartphones (McHugh, 2019).
Almost 90% job seekers consider this technology to be critical to their job searches.
The technology enables organizations to establish more personalized connections with job seekers.
The Digital Divide:
Reflects the gap between individuals who have access to computer and ability to use them and those who do not (Hoffman & Novak, 1998).
Mobile technology helps to bridge this gap.
Artificial intelligence (AI):
AI is an umbrella term that includes areas such as machine learning and cognitive computing.
AI deals with the simulation of intelligent behavior in computers.
AI supports HR by automating the screening process of resumes.
It can also standardize the ability to match the candidate to the KSAOs.
Chatbots: A chatbot is a computer program that simulates conversation with humans, mainly over the Internet.
Chatbots can help recruiters sustain the burden of regular communications with each job applicant.
Chatbots can be deployed through email, social media, the ATS, and SMS.
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Recruitment and Technology (8 of 8)
The Relationship of e-Recruiting and HRIS
More efficient and effective process.
Applicant tracking.
Populating data for new recruits.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 5: Understand the relationship between e-recruitment and HRIS.
More efficient and effective process:
HRIS can make information readily available and usable.
This makes the recruitment process more efficient and effective.
Applicant tracking:
Applicant tracking allows for the generation of applicants’ profiles, which are compiled through application blanks and/or resumes.
These profiles help in making employment decision.
Populating data for new recruits: HRIS provides data to populate the core HR system and other HR purposes for new hires.
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Online Recruitment Guidelines
Research-based guidelines.
Summary of guidelines.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 5: Understand the relationship between e-recruitment and HRIS.
Research-based guidelines:
Stone et al. (2005) offer the following recruitment guidelines:
Firms with excellent employer branding should use online recruitment.
It should be one of many sources of recruitment.
Organizations should be aware of the limitations of this method.
Usability, navigability, and design to attract candidates should be the priorities.
Online screening systems should be based on job analyses.
E-recruiting systems should provide realistic previews of jobs and of the firm.
Effectiveness should be regularly reviewed and continuously improved based on feedback from job applicants.
Online recruiting should be culturally sensitive and open to diversity.
Online recruiting must incorporate privacy protection policies.
Summary of guidelines:
Organizations should align their recruitment objectives with the process of online recruitment.
Organizations must equally focus on assessing the applicants.
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Selection and Technology (1 of 10)
What Are Selection Tests and Assessments, and Why Are They Used?
Test: multiple choice examinations.
Selection procedures.
Tests and assessment.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 6: Understand how HRIS is related to selection and assessment.
Test: Test refers to traditional multiple-choice examinations that can be used to measure ability, personality, or knowledge, as well as to skills tests, such as typing tests.
Selection procedures: Different tools, such as reference checks or work samples, that organizations use for assessment.
Tests and assessment: Job-related decision-making tools that provide information about candidates, information that organizations can use in selection.
1. The terms, test, assessment, selection tool, and selection procedure can be used interchangeably to refer to any tool designed to measure attributes of individuals for the purpose of selecting employees.
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Selection and Technology (2 of 10)
What Are Selection Tests and Assessments, and Why Are They Used?
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Satisfies Learning Objective 6: Understand how HRIS is related to selection and assessment.
Figure 9.2: Specific Examples of Tests and Assessments.
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Selection and Technology (3 of 10)
Why Is Understanding Assessment Important for HRIS?
Assessments in employee selection.
Importance of assessments.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 6: Understand how HRIS is related to selection and assessment.
Assessments in employee selection: Selection assessments aid organizations in the identification of individuals who are likelier to succeed on the job.
Importance of assessments:
The reasons why HR managers need to understand the purpose and use of assessments include the following:
All organizations use assessments.
The value of selection is quantifiable.
Employee selection is regulated by antidiscrimination laws.
Laws that prohibit employment practices that unfairly discriminate against people in various protected groups, such as racial/ethnic minorities, women, and older candidate.
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Selection and Technology (4 of 10)
Technology Issues in Selection
Concerns about digital administration of selection procedures.
Equivalence Between Modes of Assessment.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 7: Discuss technological issues that influence selection and the solutions that have been reached.
Concerns about digital administration of selection procedures:
Whether the mode of assessment administration affect the measurement properties of the test.
The benefits and risks of high-fidelity work simulations.
The effect of online testing on the validity of selection systems.
Equivalence Between Modes of Assessment:
The first computerized assessments were delivered on a computer and required candidates to answer questions via a keyboard or a mouse, or to take a computerized skill test.
However, with the increased availability of different computing devices today, there are concerns about equivalence for certain types of assessments.
For some types of assessments, such as personality tests and career interest inventories, there is little concern that the mode of administration will result in a different measure.
However, for other types of ability tests, particularly speeded tests, there is clear evidence that the mode of administration matters.
Conversely, in paper tests, with no designated time limit, most candidates will complete the test without working hastily.
Therefore, it is imperative that both types of tests are administered, ideally to the same individuals, with the order of administration counterbalanced across participants.
The overall and statistical results from both can then be examined and compared.
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Selection and Technology (5 of 10)
Technology Issues in Selection
Bandwidth Versus Fidelity.
Validity and Security Issues Created by Unproctored Online Testing.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 7: Discuss technological issues that influence selection and the solutions that have been reached.
Bandwidth Versus Fidelity: How Closely Should We Simulate the Job?
General cognitive ability tests can predict success virtually.
When combined with other types of assessments, these can exceed the predictive ability of simulations.
This is borne out in research data made available by Schmidt and Hunter (1998) that supports work simulations, ability tests, structured interviews, and personality testing.
Work simulations give candidates a sense of what it would be like to perform some aspect of the job.
Awareness of the trade-off between fidelity and bandwidth, the range of settings to which the simulation might apply, is equally important.
Validity and Security Issues Created by Unproctored Online Testing:
Online tests may be conducted in an office by a proctor who checks identification and monitors the test session.
However, these tests are frequently delivered in unproctored testing (unsupervised) situations.
Unproctored testing can, however, throw up issues such as candidate identity, test security and cheating, and fair access to testing for minorities.
Test security is also a related issue, including the privacy and security of the candidate scores and other personal information.
Cheating is another related cause of concern.
HRIS experts must also take cognizance of the issue of equal and fair access, especially when it comes to legally protected groups.
Tippins et al. in their discussions on the pros and cons of unproctored Internet testing could not arrive at a consensus the ethics of administering unproctored tests and keeping the process fair.
The International Testing Commission (2006) recommends follow up unproctored testing with proctored testing of applicants who “pass” the unproctored test and who satisfy other job qualification requirements.
However, this approach has many technical problems associated with it.
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Selection and Technology (6 of 10)
Technology Issues in Selection
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Satisfies Learning Objective 7: Discuss technological issues that influence selection and the solutions that have been reached.
Figure 9.3: Correlations Between Assessment Scores and Job Performance.
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Selection and Technology (7 of 10)
Applying HRIS to Selection and Assessment
Database design.
Development of scoring and decision rules.
Design and application of administrative functions.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 6: Understand how HRIS is related to selection and assessment.
Database design:
Databases are required to store and keep track of selection and to link information in interrelated systems.
HRIS experts are called on to carry out integration of the organization’s various HR systems.
Integration involves the linking of data in two or more systems as well as linking transactional operations in a system.
Development of scoring and decision rules: Irrespective of the outcome of the completed assessment, the HRIS expert who takes part in the creation of scoring or decision rules must ensure that they are easy for the HR department and others to understand and apply consistently throughout the organization.
Design and application of administrative functions:
HRIS helps in designing and applying the administrative functions of the system.
It also aids the features permitting access to assessments results and the right to distribute candidate information.
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Selection and Technology (8 of 10)
Applying HRIS to Selection and Assessment
Specific considerations for web-based selection systems.
Big data: large volume datasets.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 6: Understand how HRIS is related to selection and assessment.
Specific considerations for web-based selection systems:
Test access and security.
Test inventory and administrative privileges.
Options for scoring.
Accessing results.
Applying test policies.
Big data: Large-volume datasets with a variety of information that may be collected rapidly.
Data scientists mine for such data to understand the people who post to social media sites.
Guzzo et al. spell out certain cautionary advice regarding big data analysis, such as the ethics of using such data, or the accuracy of the data.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence: An organization’s culture may be assessed using data analysis algorithms known as machine learning, that transform labor-intensive work into automated processes and facilitates new analyses.
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Selection and Technology (9 of 10)
Demonstrating the HRM’s Value with HRIS Selection Applications
Proving the value of selection systems.
Defining candidate’s qualities.
Performance criterion.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 8: Understand the value of HRIS selection applications through the use of utility analysis.
Proving the value of selection systems:
HRIS managers play a key role in this using their knowledge of how to obtain and use the right data on individual and organizational outcomes and to demonstrate a return on investment in the system.
They also use their expertise to defend selection systems.
Testing experts also use assessment tools such a knowledge test to measure the value or return on investments, which is called utility.
Defining candidate’s qualities:
The proportion of candidates who are successful on the job.
The average numeric value of an outcome of interest.
The dollar amount of benefit resulting to the organization.
Performance criterion: Some selection systems result in an increase in this criterion.
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Selection and Technology (10 of 10)
Demonstrating the HRM’s Value with HRIS Selection Applications
Estimating utility.
Utility formula.
Utility calculation.
Formula for utility.
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Satisfies Learning Objective 8: Understand the value of HRIS selection applications through the use of utility analysis.
Estimating utility:
The anecdotal approach assesses whether more people seem to be successful on the job now.
Another simple approach is to conduct pre- and post-comparisons of measurable performance to see if the selection system has coincided with a change in performance.
Utility formula: A formula frequently used by industrial/organizational psychologists, considering several factors such as:
Selection ratio: The number of candidates who, based on the assessment, are chosen for the job, divided by the number of candidates who are assessed.
Validity coefficient: A statistical correlation that indicates the correspondence between test scores and job performance or some other important work outcomes.
A high validity means there is a close correspondence between assessment performance and work results.
Information about the dollar value of performance which can be obtained from job experts at the organization or from estimates based on published research.
Utility calculation: The result of the utility calculation is the dollar value of the selection system per individual, or group of individuals, hired.
Formula for utility:
∆U rxy * SDy * N * ɸ/ρ.
∆U is the utility or annual change in the dollar value of productivity.
rxy is the validity coefficient of the assessment, quantified as a correlation that falls between –1 and +1 and notated as a correlation between x (the assessment score) and y (the performance criterion score).
SDy is the standard deviation (SD) of performance (y).
N is the number of employees hired.
ɸ/ρ refers to the test score of applicants who are selected by the organization.
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