Job Attractiveness Research Articles

Individual Differences in Attractiveness of Jobs Based on Compensation Package Components

The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of salary level, amount of leave per year, the extent of cost-sharing for health care insurance coverage, and type of retirement plan on individuals’ job choice within a United States employment context. Salary, amount of vacation time, cost of health insurance, and type of retirement plan predicted the likelihood that individuals would apply for a position as well as accept the position if it were offered to them. While the type of retirement plan had an effect, there was virtually no difference based on whether the retirement plan was a defined benefit pension plan, a 401 K plan, or a company stock plan. There were no interactions between compensation plan components suggesting recruits do not consider salary as a substitute for benefits. Marital status, benefit history, attitudes towards earnings, and risk propensity predicted the relative importance placed on salary and specific benefits in the compensation package.

Intergenerational transfers of public sector jobs: a shred of evidence on nepotism

The attractiveness of public sector jobs in Italy may induce parents working in this sector to use their positions and the network of relationships to favor their sons/daughters in gaining access to public sector jobs. We verify whether children of public employees effectively enjoy an advantage, estimating a model of the probability of working in the public sector controlling for individual characteristics and labor market conditions. We show that if the father is a public employee the probability of his child working in the same sector is increased by a huge 44%. This advantage is larger for low-ability individuals, “stayers” and Southern Italian residents. We interpret these findings as evidence of nepotism in public employment.

THE PATTERN AND EVOLUTION OF GEOGRAPHICAL WAGE DIFFERENTIALS IN THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS IN GREAT BRITAIN*

Government policy on the nature of wage bargaining in the public sector can have important implications for the provision of public services. Using the New Earnings Survey, the Labour Force Survey and the British Household Panel Survey, we examine the size and evolution of public–private sector wage differentials across geographical areas within the UK and over time. Public sector bargaining structures have led to historically high wage premia, although these premia are declining over time. In high‐cost low‐amenity areas, such as the south‐east of England, the public sector underpays relative to the private sector, therefore creating problems in recruitment to and provision of public services. Public sector labour markets are around 40 per cent as responsive to area differences in amenities and costs as are private sector labour markets. Differences in the degree of spatial variation between sectors are likely to remain, leading to persistent problems for the delivery of public services in some parts of the UK. Reform of public sector pay structures is likely to be costly, and so other non‐pay policies need to be considered to increase the attractiveness of public sector jobs.

Securing and retaining a mental health workforce in Far Western New South Wales

To identify strategies local managers can use to optimise recruitment and retention of mental health staff in rural locations. Forty-one staff were interviewed about factors that attracted them to work in remote locations, their initial intentions and factors that encourage them to stay. The former Far West Health Area of New South Wales. Overall job satisfaction was high (68%). Key attractors were rural lifestyle and environment. Family reasons, the field of work and the rural lifestyle were factors that keep staff in their positions. Some mentioned the desire to achieve professional goals and see projects completed. Many staff reported that their initial intentions to stay had remained the same (43.9%). Reasons for extended intention to stay were: greater career opportunities; a desire to complete professional goals; extension of positions; and personal factors. The most common reason for leaving was better career opportunities. Other reasons included: changes to personal commitments; heavy workloads or burnout; service management; and workplace politics. A large number of respondents mentioned key differences when comparing rural and metropolitan areas: more travel (greater distances); less service options for referral; greater spectrum of illnesses and conditions; more autonomy and responsibility. Strategies to recruit and retain staff must take account of personal needs and aspirations. While there is room for state strategies to improve employment incentives, there is also considerable scope for local managers to improve the design and attractiveness of jobs.

The influence of prefeedback selection justice on perceptions of overall procedural justice and organizational attractiveness in a real-life selection procedure

Specific dimensions of perceived procedural justice of selection procedures have been found to be related to various organizational outcomes in many correlational studies. In the present study, a total of 506 Israeli young men and women in two waves of data collection (Wave 1: N = 277; Wave 2: N = 229) rated the perceived selection procedural justice of preconscription military selection procedures for élite military jobs immediately after participation in these procedures and prior to receiving results. Confirmatory factor analysis provided support for Bauer et al.'s (2001) three-dimensional model of selection procedural justice: structural, social, and content job-relatedness. In Wave 2, the influence of selection procedural justice dimensions on perceptions of overall procedural selection justice, job attractiveness, and recommendation intention was tested. After controlling for preparticipation levels of these variables, the interpersonal aspect of selection justice was found to have a unique influence on postparticipation levels of all outcome measures.

Knowledge society: Mechanisms of deconstruction

The coming phase in the history of civilization is conditioned by a special economic role of knowledge, which has recently manifested itself. However, the established existence contradicts the cultural traditions of the social group whose lifestyle has historically formed in a scientific environment. Now they cannot find sufficient socioeconomic support in society and in its system of education. Discovering new knowledge and involving it in the sociocultural context is not yet a vital value for society but a way to replenish one of the “tributes” that deplete its potentialities to acquire the culture of knowledge. Further, we will consider some of the acting mechanisms that deconstruct knowledge society. Cognitive inflation of the knowledge production sphere. Here, two factors are especially important: first, the socioeconomic realities, which detach scientists from knowledge production and instead generate conditions that can be endured only in the forms of radical material asceticism, and, second, the reduction to zero of the values of knowledge society by those who consider its creators’ material benefits as a means to satisfy title idleness. Factors that detach young people from engagement in science can be revealed by the results of sociological polls. In 2002, 49.6% of respondents in 15 countries of the European Union, according to the Eurobarometer data, stressed a lessened attractiveness of work in the scientific sphere, while 42.5%, a lack of career prospects and insufficient salaries [1]. We can compare the European data with the statistics of Russian surveys [2]. Young people of our country indicate low salaries as the main factor associated with the impossibility to work at scientific institutions, 85%. The lack of demand for scientists raises concern in 17% of respondents, while limited career opportunities, concerns only 12%. Comparing the above data with the results of polling young Russian scientists on emigration factors, note their similarity in the main parameter: 89% of respondents pointed to the low level of labor compensation, while 39% of them differed on career opportunities (as opposed to 12% in the “problem” poll). This figure is sufficiently close to the Eurobarometer data in the “trouble-free” abroad. We can also mark a similarity of opinions on the attractiveness of jobs in the scientific

Does Recruitment Message Content Normalize the Superintendency as Male?

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to use a recent feminist conceptual framework (Tallerico, 2000a) to frame an investigation of whether emphasizing the major roles of the job and district size in recruitment messages for a hypothetical superintendent’s position influenced participant job attraction ratings. Research Methods: This study used a 2 × 3 × 3 analysis of variance (ANOVA) design with each cell containing equal numbers of men and women. The independent variables were gender (male, female), selected major roles associated with the superintendency (instructional leadership, managerial leadership, political leadership), and district size (1,500 students, 3,000 students, and 12,000 students). The dependent variable consisted of an additive composite score of participant responses to three items representing a measure of job attraction. Sampling Procedure and Data Collection: Seventy-six percent of the randomly selected sample of 360 public school principals in Alabama (male = 180, female = 180) completed a consent form, a demographic data form, and rated one of nine recruitment messages for a hypothetical superintendent’s position. Major Finding: ANOVA procedure using a composite rating of three items as the dependent variable revealed that the roles accounted for 14% of the variance in participant attraction for the position with both men and women rating position announcements emphasizing the instructional leadership role significantly more positively than position announcements emphasizing either the managerial leadership role or the political leadership role. Analyses of variance on the single item related to job attractiveness revealed a main effect for superintendent roles and a two-way interaction between superintendent roles and district size. The least positive ratings for both men and women were messages emphasizing the management role in districts with 3,000 students enrolled and the political role in districts with 12,000 students enrolled. Implications and Conclusion: The contents of the recruitment messages influenced participant ratings to a significant degree. From a practical standpoint, the findings encourage careful consideration of the language used in recruitment messages and support the utility of the framework to inform future studies.

Passive Recruitment in the Russian Urban Labor Market

About half of the hires made in the Russian city of Samara in 1998 were accomplished without an employer's outreach effort to fill the position. Such passive recruitment is supported primarily by hiring managers’ personal ties and the networks of the firm's current and previous employees. The positive effect of a job's attractiveness on the likelihood of passive recruitment is dampened by an increase in the stringency of the job's technical and social requirements. Thus, if necessary, employers actively search for candidates who meet the job requirements, and therefore the cost of search is the primary factor behind passive recruitment.

Recruiting Principals to Lead Low-performing Schools: Effects on Job Attractiveness

This study addressed recruiting principals into low performing schools. A sample (N = 619) of principals, assistant principals, central office administrators, school counselors, and teacher-leaders from the 29th largest school district in the United States role-played as applicants for principal vacancies at schools classified as low-performing based on results of standardized student achievement tests. The study had an experimental design and involved use of a recruitment simulation. Rating jobs depicted on simulated principal recruitment announcements, principals and assistant principals rated the job highest while school counselors rated the jobs lowest. Among the teacher-leaders, teacher-administrative interns rated the job higher than did highly skilled educators or resource teachers. Implications for recruitment practice and future evaluation research are discussed.

Ethnic and Gender Differences in Applicants' Decision-Making Processes: An Application of the Theory of Reasoned Action

Although a growing proportion of the new entrants into the workforce consist of women and ethnic minorities, relatively little is known about the recruitment and job choice processes of these applicant groups. Therefore, this study investigated cultural and gender differences in job application decision processes among 191 job seekers looking for temporary employment. The theory of reasoned action (TRA) was found to be a valid framework to explain job application decisions, although gender differences existed in the strength of the relations. Job attractiveness and perceived person–organization fit added to the prediction of job application intention over and beyond the TRA variables.

Der Einfluss von Telearbeit auf das Team: Empirisch analysiert am Beispiel eines Versicherungsunternehmens

Mobile Arbeitsformen wie die Telearbeit gewinnen im Rahmen der betriebswirtschaftlichen Diskussionen zu Arbeitsflexibilisierung, dezentralen Organisationsstrukturen und virtuellen Teams zunehmend an Bedeutung. Die vorliegende Studie fokussiert den Einfluss von Telearbeit auf das Team, insbesondere die Teamidentifikation, welche auf zentrale HRM-Bereiche wie die Arbeitszufriedenheit, Arbeitsmotivation oder den Wissenstransfer Auswirkungen hat. Auf der Basis einer systematischen Analyse der relevanten Literatur wird ein zweistufiges empirisches Forschungsmodell entwickelt. Dieses erklärt nicht nur, ob der Zusammenhang zwischen Teamidentifikation und Telearbeit positiv oder negativ ist, sondern zeigt in einer multiplen Regressionsanalyse auch auf, welche Faktoren den Zusammenhang beeinflussen. Die empirischen Resultate der schriftlichen Befragung bei einem Schweizer Versicherungsunternehmen (N=414) bestätigen die Hypothese, dass Telearbeit die Teamidentifikation insgesamt signifikant negativ beeinflusst. Dies geschieht vermittelt über die Determinanten Autonomie, Teamzusammenhalt und Attraktivität der Arbeit. Dieser Befund verlangt nach praktischen Anpassungen bei der Implementierung von Telearbeit, indem die Chancen des technologischen Wandels genutzt, aber die negativen Auswirkungen reduziert werden.

Perceived Fairness in Personnel Selection: Determinants and Outcomes in Different Stages of the Assessment Procedure

This study addresses the determinants and outcomes of fairness perceptions in a real assessment procedure as performed by a selection agency. Fairness perceptions were investigated at three points in time: before the assessment, right after the assessment but before assessment feedback, and after assessment feedback. Using structural equation modeling, we tested how fairness perceptions develop throughout the assessment procedure. Applicants' openness to experiences affected their test beliefs before the actual test‐taking. These beliefs remained powerful in the subsequent stages of the assessment procedure in that they influenced applicants' perceptions of performance, feedback and fairness. In the context of selection by an external selection agency, post‐feedback fairness perceptions were not related to job attractiveness. Perceived feedback treatment and feedback content directly affected job attractiveness.

Factors influencing recruitment in educational psychology

This paper reports an investigation of the factors that educational psychologists in training (EPiTs) look for when applying for jobs in educational psychology services. Relevant literature on ‘job attraction’ is reviewed and a three-stage research process employed. This involved a focus group approach to questionnaire generation followed by questionnaire studies involving 87 EPiTs and 22 recently qualified educational psychologists. Results identify key aspects of service and staff development as crucial in recruitment. These are discussed within the broader context of psychological theory on job satisfaction in considering implications for both recruitment and retention.

Who Wants to Work for the Government?

In an era when everyone wants to be a millionaire, governments struggle to attract and retain highly qualified employees, making it more important than ever to understand what attracts people to the public service. Using contingency table analysis and logistic regression on the 1989 and 1998 General Social Surveys, we explore how individuals' demographic characteristics and the importance they place on various job qualities influence their preference for and employment in the public sector. Job security may still be the strongest attraction of government jobs, but high income and the opportunity to be useful to society also attract some Americans to the public service. Minorities, veterans, Democrats, and older Americans preferred public‐sector jobs more than whites, nonveterans, Republicans, and younger Americans, who were otherwise similar. Women and college graduates were more likely than comparable men and less‐educated respondents to have government jobs, but no more likely to prefer them. Overall, desire for government jobs declined markedly between 1989 and 1998.

Decentralization and School Council Empowerment in Kentucky: Implications for Community Relations

We introduce the topic of community building as a central ingredient of systemic reform. After noting that devolution of decision making has been characteristic of many organizations in the 1990s, we contend that decentralizing schooling implies empowerment both of teachers and parents. Having described school councils in Kentucky as illustrative of the twin trends of decentralization and empowerment, we note the (largely) disappointing results on teacher job attraction to council positions and on teacher and parent empowerment. We conclude that the teacher-parent-student relationship for poor families, precisely those targeted by the Kentucky reform cycle, is problematic: Reconfiguring this crucial relationship should in part frame “community relations” for the 21st century.

Treating development networks seriously: What public managers should know

In recent years, local governments have concentrated on revitalizing their local economies through economic development policy, which raises a number of important political and legal issues. However, the political attraction of jobs, the popularity of professional sports, and the public's anticipation of obtaining “big league” status stifle a critical probing of these issues. One result has been a systematic pattern of one-sided interactions in favor of entrepreneurs, particularly those who control professional sports franchises. This pattern threatens to undermine the effectiveness and legitimacy of the development policymaking process. This article clarifies these costly though less obvious issues and provides a framework for considering them more candidly, and hopefully, more effectively.

Job Opportunity Evaluation Matrix: Ability to Perform and Job Attractiveness

Job Opportunity Evaluation Matrix: Ability to Perform and Job Attractiveness

Exploitation or choice? Exploring the relative attractiveness of employment in the maquiladoras

This study investigates the relative attractiveness of production level jobs provided by multinational firms in Mexico's maquiladora industry. We take the position that workers themselves are an important and often overlooked source of information relevant to the controversy focusing on the responsibilities of multinational companies to their employees in the developing world. We conducted interviews with 59 maquila production level workers in the Mexican cities of Cd. Juarez and Chihuahua. Using a relative attractiveness framework that compared maquila jobs to other employment available in the local economy, maquila line and technical workers responded to questions addressing why they were working at a maquila, their work history, the attractiveness of maquila jobs compared to both their prior jobs and the jobs held by friends and family, and whether they planned to continue working in the maquilas. While the responses from maquila workers are diverse, they suggest that maquila jobs provide attractive employment for the economically disadvantaged in Northern Mexico.

Welfare Recipients' Job Skills and Employment Prospects

The welfare reform goal of moving mothers who rely on welfare into private-sector employment cannot be achieved only by changes in public policy. Employment rates reflect the job qualifications of individuals, obstacles to work outside the home, the attractiveness of available jobs, and the capacity of the labor market to absorb new workers at particular skill levels. This article examines how each of these factors is likely to influence current welfare recipients' success in finding employment and the wages they are likely to earn. The author concludes that the skill deficiencies of recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children do not represent an insurmountable barrier to employment, although these deficiencies do restrict the wages recipients can earn. Without continued public assistance in the form of wage subsidies, child care payments, or help securing health insurance, most families that move from welfare to work will remain below the poverty level.

Effects of job attribute categories, applicant job experience, and recruiter sex on applicant job attractiveness ratings

Effects of job attribute categories, applicant job experience, and recruiter sex on applicant job attractiveness ratings