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Confirming first impressions in the employment interview: A field study of interviewer behavior.
Abstract
This research examined behavioral styles used by interviewers to confirm their first impressions of job applicants. Three interviewers in a corporate setting formed first impressions based on application blank and test score information. They then conducted autiotaped interviews. Coders independently coded 79 interviews and found that first impressions were related to confirmatory behavior. Interviews followed up positive first impressions, for example, by showing positive regard toward applicants, ''selling'' the company and giving job information, and gathering less information. Applicants' communication style and rapport with interviewers also differed. Significant differences in confirmatory behaviors also occurred among the three interviewers. A number of interviewer behaviors, especially positive regard, were related to applicant behavior in interviews. Although previous studies of expectancy confirmation have produced mixed results, our results suggest that interviewers in natural settings do use confirmatory strategies, underscoring the importance of additional research on ''self-fulfilling prophecies.''
... Roth and colleagues (2016) propose that social media information, including LinkedIn profiles, used to screen applicants may impact subsequent stages in the selection process, such as an employment interview. Research suggests that pre-interview information can impact interview evaluations (Dipboye et al., 1984;Dougherty et al., 1994). For example, an applicant's resume provided before an interview has been found to influence interviewers' judgments of candidates (Levashina et al., 2014). ...
Mental health challenges are stigmatized in society and at work, yet people are increasingly posting about their experiences of anxiety and depression on social media. Drawing from the expectancy-confirmation framework in the stereotype literature by Darley and Gross (Personality and Social Psychology 44:20–33, 1983), this experiment examined whether stigma associated with anxiety and depression induces initial expectancies about the traits and behavioral tendencies of applicants who post about their anxiety and depression on LinkedIn. We then tested whether these expectancies are strengthened via confirmation bias when the applicant has the chance to perform in an interview. Findings from 409 individuals with hiring experience revealed that, regardless of an applicant gender and evaluator age, when applicants write about their experiences with anxiety and depression on LinkedIn, it affects evaluators’ impressions of their work-related personality traits (i.e., emotional stability, conscientiousness) but not expectations about their work performance (i.e., task performance, organizational citizenship behaviors). Unexpectedly, evaluators’ initial impressions of the applicant’s emotional stability were slightly enhanced, rather than worsened, when listening to a recording of the applicant’s job interview, but perceptions of conscientiousness remained unchanged. Overall, this study suggests that using LinkedIn to screen job candidates may introduce personal information about applicants that can be difficult to ignore later. While people are encouraged to share their experiences with anxiety and depression on social media, doing so can impact their professional image.
... This might lead to erroneous decision-making in recruitment processes because, for instance, suitable applicants might be immediately falsely rejected due to their apparent "not suitable" personality. Also, inaccurate initial personality impressions might transfer to hiring decisions in advanced selection stages and harm their validity (e.g., Dougherty, Turban, & Callender, 1994). Trainings educating about incorporating valid LinkedIn cues (as identified in the present study) consistently into personality inferences could improve recruiters' accuracy (see Cole, Feild, & Stafford, 2005;Karelaia & Hogarth, 2008). ...
Recruiters routinely use LinkedIn profiles to infer applicants’ key personality traits like narcissism and intelligence. However, little is known about LinkedIn profiles’ predictive potential to accurately infer personality. According to Brunswik’s lens model, accurate personality inferences depend on (a) the presence of valid cues in LinkedIn profiles containing information about users’ personality and (b) the consistent utilization of valid cues. We assessed narcissism (self-report) and intelligence (aptitude tests) in a mixed sample of 406 students/professionals along with 64 deductively derived LinkedIn cues coded by 3 trained coders. Applying nested cross-validated elastic nets, we demonstrate that (a) LinkedIn profiles contain valid information about users’ narcissism (e.g., uploading a background picture) and intelligence (e.g., listing many accomplishments). Furthermore, (b) mechanical perceivers like machine learning algorithms use these valid cues consistently so that the elastic nets attained substantial prediction accuracy (r = .28/.32 for narcissism/intelligence). This way, we uncover LinkedIn profiles’ potential to accurately infer personality: Personality can be inferred accurately if (a) the valid cues contained in LinkedIn profiles are (b) used consistently like a mechanical perceiver does. The results have practical implications for improving recruiters’ accuracy and foreshadow potentials of automated LinkedIn based personality assessments for recruitment purposes.
... Third, even when structured interviews are conducted by trained and experienced interviewers and the process does not deviate to an unstructured format, empirical evidence shows that structured interviews may not be systematic and free of bias because interviewers may used them to confirm their preexisting judgments rather than to evaluate the candidates-that is, a potential self-fulfilling prophecy (Dougherty, Turban, & Callender, 1994). On the candidates' side, there is also much room for introducing bias. ...
Why do organizations conduct job interviews? The traditional view of interviewing holds that interviews are conducted, despite their steep costs, to predict a candidate’s future performance and fit. This view faces a twofold threat: the behavioral and algorithmic threats. Specifically, an overwhelming body of behavioral research suggests that we are bad at predicting performance and fit; furthermore, algorithms are already better than us at making these predictions in various domains. If the traditional view captures the whole story, then interviews seem to be a costly, archaic human resources procedure sustained by managerial overconfidence. However, building on T. M. Scanlon’s work, we offer the value of choice theory of interviewing and argue that interviews can be vindicated once we recognize that they generate commonly overlooked kinds of noninstrumental value. On our view, interviews should thus not be entirely replaced by algorithms, however sophisticated algorithms ultimately become at predicting performance and fit.
... People typically gather more information about a person over time (e.g., from additional interview questions or longer conversations in a social setting) that may change their perception. However, studies have shown that the first impression in both social and professional settings may already diminish interest in a person, and people may not be willing to spend more time gathering additional information [37][38][39]. This is an indication that people were subjected to some stigma even with mild-to-moderate TD movements, which they may not even be aware of. ...
Objective:
Antipsychotic medications may cause tardive dyskinesia (TD), an often-irreversible movement disorder characterized by involuntary movements that are typically stereotypic, choreiform, or dystonic and may impair quality of life. This study evaluated others' perceptions of abnormal TD movements in professional and social situations.
Methods:
This was an experimental, randomized, blinded, digital survey in a general population sample. Participants were randomized 1:1 into a test or control group to view a video of a professional actor simulating TD movements or no TD movements prior to completing surveys on employment, dating, and friendship domains. Assessments for mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe TD movements were conducted separately. Authenticity of abnormal movements and Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) scores were evaluated by physician experts.
Results:
Surveys were completed by 2,400 participants each for mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe TD. In all domains, participants responded significantly less favorably to persons with TD movements (both mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe) than those without TD movements. Fewer participants in the test versus control group for mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe TD, respectively, considered the candidate as a potential employee (29.2% and 22.7% fewer), found him/her attractive (20.5% and 18.7% fewer), and were interested in becoming friends with him/her (12.3% and 16.5% fewer).
Conclusion:
Professional actors simulating TD movements were perceived more negatively than those without TD movements in employment, dating, and friendship domains. To our knowledge, this is the first randomized study to quantify professional and social stigma associated with TD movements that may reduce opportunities for gainful employment, marital status, and an effective support system.
... Willis & Todorov, 2006). Impressions have lasting effects since we subsequently alter our behaviors around others (Dougherty, Turban, & Callender, 1994; M. J. Harris & Garris, 2008). Although face masks occlude a large portion of the face, we speculate that the unobstructed area of the face continues to convey information such as first impressions for social communication. ...
Faces convey a lot of information about a person. However, the usage of face masks occludes important parts of the face. There is already information that face masks alter the processing of variable characteristics such as emotional expressions and the identity of a person. To investigate whether masks influenced the processing of facial information, we compared ratings of full faces and those covered by face masks. 196 participants completed one of two parallel versions of the experiment. The data demonstrated varying effects of face masks on various characteristics. First, we showed that the perceived intensity of emotional expressions was reduced when the face was covered by face masks. This can be regarded as conceptual replication and extension of the impairing effects of face masks on the recognition of emotional expressions. Next, by analyzing valence and arousal ratings, the data illustrated that emotional expressions were regressed toward neutrality for masked faces relative to no-masked faces. This effect was grossly pronounced for happy facial expressions, less for neutral expressions, and absent for sad expressions. The sex of masked faces was also less accurately identified. Finally, masked faces looked older and less attractive. Post hoc correlational analyses revealed correlation coefficient differences between no-masked and masked faces. The differences occurred in some characteristic pairs (e.g., Age and Attractiveness, Age and Trustworthiness) but not in others. This suggested that the ratings for some characteristics could be influenced by the presence of face masks. Similarly, the ratings of some characteristics could also be influenced by other characteristics, irrespective of face masks. We speculate that the amount of information available on a face could drive our perception of others during social communication. Future directions for research were discussed.
... The rhetoric developed about the main problem of oral interviews (Breakwell, 1995;Riggio, 2003) focuses on specific elements, such as the effect of the first impression made by the members of the selection board, which is difficult to overturn (Dougherty et al., 1994), the impact of the halo effect, according to which some socially acceptable characteristics of the candidates influence their overall evaluation (Pollock, 2002), the influence of social stereotypes (Taliadorou, 2007in Kakkos et al., 2018 or discrimination, the candidates' guidance to give the answers desired (lead the candidate) (Breakwell, 1995) and issues related to providing equal opportunities to candidates (Deutsch, 1975). In addition, Palmer et al. (2016) refer to the term 'fit', in an attempt to state that the selection process can be affected, depending on whether there is convergence or divergence between candidate presentations and selectors prototypes. ...
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the principle of fairness as equity, defined by Adams, is applied during the selection of school principals. Our focus was on a secondary education directorate drawing data in two ways. Firstly, a questionnaire was given to candidates who participated in the selection process, in order to investigate to which extent fairness as equity is included both in the process and the selection criteria. Secondly, we examined whether the selection board through the oral interview moved with the respective conditions of fairness as equity through the candidates’ scoring. It seemed that the majority of participants have formed their opinion on fairness as equity based on their ‘incoming capital’ depending on their score, while they consider that the selection board was rather biased in rating their fellow candidates. This is due to previous official or personal relationships with the members of the selection board and party involvement. For the Greek context, the selection of school principals can be characterised as a process that allows the influence of factors clearly non-relating to the principle of fairness as equity. Proposals at the level of educational policy are proposed.
... first impression in business communication situations. (Bozeman & Kacmar, 1997;Gilmore & Ferris, 1989;Kacmar, Delery, & Ferris, 1992;Leary & Kowalski, 1990;Rosenfeld, Giacalone, & Riordan, 1995;Schenkler, 1980;Stevens & Kristof, 1995) .We cite evidence that impressions formed during the first fiveminutes of the interview are seldom changed during the next 30 to 60 minutes (Wyche, 2002;Dougherty et al., 1994). For example, as in dating, how carefully applicants groom, dress (e.g., wearing a nice outfit), and how they project themselves non-verbally including their gestures and expressions send a message about the value of the encounter. ...
This article describes an in-class exercise that has worked to elevate student awareness of the importance of planning verbal and nonverbal behavior as key to successful career communication. Small groups of students answer questions about dating and then apply their understanding from what it takes to make and sustain a positive impression in dating situations to career communication, including networking, coop , and job interviews.
... The bias appears to begin before interviewers meet prospective job candidates, through "preinterview impressions" (Dougherty, Turban, & Callender, 1994, p. 659). Dougherty et al. (1994) state, Behavioral biases…involve interviewers' behaving in a fashion that confirms their first impressions of applicants. Interviewers, for example, may display a sense of 'positive regard' or 'negative regard' toward applicants based on their initial evaluations. ...
This paper explores why some demographics, who are relatively new to the ranks of white collar corporate America, may encounter difficulties while navigating the unwritten rules that create the foundation for success in contemporary corporate culture; and suffer unintended consequences to their employment and career advancement. Here we discuss evolving paradigms of diversity initiatives including diversity as demographics vs. diversity of ideas, and how organizational culture may impact the attainment of diversity goals, and by extension, attainment of promotional opportunities for corporate novices. Finally, this paper will examine the role of business organizations in valuing diversity, and the obligation of educational institutions in preparing diverse candidates with knowledge of business etiquette and valuing business culture.
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