The job applicant reactions towards Patterned Behavior Description Interview (PBDI) and Mixed Situational and Patterned Behavior Description Interview (Mixed SPBDI)

Masyitah Mahadi

doi:10.12688/f1000research.73529.1

Abstract

Background: When applying for a job, applicant reactions are defined as the amount to which the applicants of the job regard the process of selection as impartial or unbiased. The questions for the structured interview can be future-oriented (Situational Interview) or past-oriented (Patterned Behaviour Description Interview). Past research on using SI or PBDI in selection process and their effects on applicant reactions showed that applicant reactions are highest towards PBDI. Methods: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of combining PBDI and SI (mixed SPBDI) as interview questions, and to differentiate its effect with PBDI. This study involved 46 lecturers from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). This study used (a) mixed SPBDI, and PBDI as interview questions, and (b) Applicant Reaction Questionnaires which was based on the Organizational Justice theory. The interview was conducted in a transcript form. After the participants answered the interview transcripts, they answered the applicant reactions questionnaires. The data was then analysed and presented. Results: The results showed a significant difference between mixed SPBDI and PBDI, with the PBDI’s mean (M = 13.61; SD = 1.57) is significantly higher than the mixed SPBDI’s mean (M = 10.89; SD 1.91), t (46) = 7.22; p < 0.01. Specifically, applicants reacted more positively to PBDI interview content compared to the mixed SPBDI. Conclusion: This research had few limitations such as the interview being conducted in the form of transcript and not verbally as in real workplace context. It is also limited to studying the reactions in terms of only perceived fairness and no other elements such as organizational effectiveness or the decision making of the applicants. Nevertheless, this study has contributed to the theoretical and research development in applicant reactions, and to the practical application for organizations in Malaysia.

Highlights

The question that the organizations as well as researchers need to ask in general should be ‘have we selected the best applicant that can perform well in the job?’ and ‘have we left a good impression for the best applicant to be interested to accept our job offer and is able to perform well?’.In using interview for personnel recruitment and selection, it is important to choose the appropriate interview questions so that skillful people would want to work for that specific organization (Bauer, Truxillo & Paranto, 2004; Rynes, Barber & Varma, 2000)
There was a significant difference between Patterned Behaviour Description Interview (PBDI) and mixed SPBDI, with PBDI’s mean (M = 13.61; SD = 1.57) significantly higher than mixed SPBDI’s mean (M = 10.89; SD 1.91), t (46) = 7.22; p < 0.01
Since perceived procedural justice is defined as the perception of fairness to the methods utilized, which later affects decisions towards organizations (Folger and Greenberg, 1985), this finding shows that job applicants perceived PBDI as having a fairer method than mixed SPBDI

Summary

Introduction

The question that the organizations as well as researchers need to ask in general should be ‘have we selected the best applicant that can perform well in the job?’ and ‘have we left a good impression for the best applicant to be interested to accept our job offer and is able to perform well?’.In using interview for personnel recruitment and selection, it is important to choose the appropriate interview questions so that skillful people would want to work for that specific organization (Bauer, Truxillo & Paranto, 2004; Rynes, Barber & Varma, 2000). Two common types of structured interview content are Situational Interview (SI) introduced by Latham (1989), which is future-oriented, and Patterned Behaviour Description Interview (PBDI) introduced by Janz (1982) which is past-oriented. Past research on using SI or PBDI in selection process and their effects on applicant reactions showed that applicant reactions are highest towards PBDI. This study used (a) mixed SPBDI, and PBDI as interview questions, and (b) Applicant Reaction Questionnaires which was based on the Organizational Justice theory. Applicants reacted more positively to PBDI interview content compared to the mixed SPBDI. This study has contributed to the theoretical and research development in applicant reactions, and to the practical application for organizations in Malaysia

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion