Advances in Selection and Assessment in Europe

Abstract

Employee recruitment, selection, and assessment have become one of the strongest areas of research and practice in the field of Industrial, Work and Organizational Psychology. Numerous psychology graduates are employed in human resource management consultancies, human resource management departments, and in specialized work psychology/psychological testing firms; and involved in staffing, recruitment, selection, performance appraisal and training of personnel, and other aspects of applied psychology in countries worldwide. These trends are similarly true within the European Union and so the purpose of the present Special Issue of the International Journal of Selection and Assessment (IJSA) is to showcase and highlight recent advances in employee selection research in Europe. The development of the field is also apparent from the large numbers of scientific articles appearing in both general Industrial, Work and Organizational Psychology Journals and specialized outlets, such as the IJSA, which is currently celebrating its 20th volume. Also, a number of influential handbooks have recently been published both in the United States and Europe (e.g. Handbook of Employee Selection, edited by James L. Farr & Nancy T. Tippins; Handbook of Personnel Selection, edited by Arne Evers, Neil Anderson, & Olga Voskuijl), and the number of conference papers and symposia presented in international conferences, such as the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the European Association of Work & Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), the Academy of Management (AoM), and the International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP), dealing with issues related to employee recruitment, selection and assessment, has been steadily increasing during the last few years. Recent research in employee selection has shifted focus from the traditional selection paradigm, that is, the relationship between the predictor and the criterion, toward other important issues as well. For example, there is increased interest in different selection methods (e.g., situational judgment tests), the role of technology and the Internet in recruitment and selection (e.g., video resumes and the effect of social networking websites), the applicant perspective (e.g., trust, fairness, and applicant reactions research), the use of new statistical and methodological approaches (e.g., multilevel analysis and diary studies), ethical issues and adverse impact, high stakes selection, and so forth. These recent developments of the field in Europe has led the guest editors of the current special issue to organize a small scale conference entitled ‘EAWOP Small Group Meeting on Selection & Assessment in Europe’, in Athens, Greece, in June 2011 (http://www.eawopsgm. wordpress.com/), under the auspices and support of the EAWOP and the Athens University of Economics & Business. The meeting was part of the EAWOP Small Group Meetings initiative and attracted a large number of European researchers specializing in the field of recruitment, selection, and assessment. Twenty-four papers were presented during the meeting and the authors were invited to submit a full version of their paper for consideration in the current special issue. Following a full double-blind review process, as is normally the case at IJSA, 12 papers were finally accepted and are included in the current special issue. As editors, we are delighted to be able to publish these papers as showcase articles illustrative of very recent developments across different countries in Europe and covering a notably diverse set of topics in employee selection. The success of the Athens Small Group Meeting, along with the increased interest in recruitment, selection, and assessment in Europe, motivated the participants in Athens to establish the European Network of Selection Researchers (ENESER). The Network’s aim is to advance selection research in Europe, to bring together researchers carrying out applied research in the field of employee recruitment, selection, and assessment, and to