Technology and Discourse: A Comparison of Face‐to‐face and Telephone Employment Interviews

Abstract

Very little research has investigated the comparability of telephone and face‐to‐face employment interviews. This exploratory study investigated interviewers' questioning strategies and applicants' causal attributions produced during semi structured telephone and face‐to‐face graduate recruitment interviews (N=62). A total of 2044 causal attributions were extracted from verbatim transcripts of these 62 interviews. It was predicted that an absence of visual cues would lead applicants to produce, and interviewers to focus on, information that might reduce the comparative anonymity of telephone interviews. Results indicate that applicants produce more personal causal attributions in telephone interviews. Personal attributions are also associated with higher ratings in telephone, but not face‐to‐face interviews. In face‐to‐face interviews, applicants who attributed outcomes to more global causes received lower ratings. There was also a non‐significant tendency for interviewers to ask more closed questions in telephone interviews. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.