The role of personality and organizational images in the recruiting process

Abstract

Although recruiting is recognized as an integral step in the selection process, little research has been conducted on the psychological processes which are involved. Three theories of recruiting (Behling et al., 1968) were reviewed. One of these theories, the Subjective Factor Theory, was examined in terms of Super's (1953) vocational choice theory involving the self-concept. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of extending Super's (1953) theory of vocational choice to the problem of organizational choice. One hundred degree candidates, who had registered with the Career Placement Service at the University of California, participated in this study. The main hypothesis was that the similarity between an individual's description of himself and his description of the organization which he most prefers would be greater than the similarity between an individual's description of himself and his description of the organization which he least prefers. The results indicated that the adjective check list could be utilized to assess organizational images as well as individual personality without any serious difficulty. However, the results for the Study of Values were not as conclusive, and therefore, attempts to utilize it to assess organizational images should be performed with much greater caution. Finally, the results indicated that Super's (1953) theory of vocational choice may be extended to include organizational choice. The similarity between the profiles for the self-description and descriptions of most preferred organizations was significantly greater than the similarity between the profiles for the self-description and descriptions of least preferred organizations. These results and conclusions provide empirical support for the Subjective Factor Theory of recruiting. The findings of this study support the conclusion that subjective factors do play an important role in the recruiting process.