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The effect of applicant–employee fit and temporal construal on employer attraction and pursuit intentions
Author(s) -
von Walter Benjamin,
Wentzel Daniel,
Tomczak Torsten
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of occupational and organizational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.257
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 2044-8325
pISSN - 0963-1798
DOI - 10.1348/2044-8325.002006
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , construals , construal level theory , context (archaeology) , seekers , sample (material) , perspective (graphical) , attraction , paleontology , linguistics , chemistry , philosophy , chromatography , political science , computer science , law , biology , artificial intelligence
Although applicant–employee fit has emerged as an important topic in recruitment research, little is known about how job seekers’ perceived similarity with the employees working for an organization affects employer attraction. In this research, we introduce temporal construal as a crucial moderating variable and study how the temporal decision context affects the weighting of applicant–employee fit. In particular, we argue that applicant–employee fit is construed in abstract, high‐level terms, and exerts a stronger influence when prospective applicants hold a distant time perspective. In contrast, instrumental attributes such as pay level represent low‐level construals and gain greater relevance when prospective applicants hold a near time perspective. Two experiments involving a student sample and a sample of unemployed job seekers supported these predictions.