Enhancing the Representation of Women: How Gender Diversity Signals and Acknowledgement Affect Attraction to Men-Dominated Professions

While organizations around the world recognize the importance of gender diversity and inclusion, many struggle to reach gender parity (Sneader & Yee, 2020). Particularly, women account for less than 15% of all sworn police officers (Donohue Jr, 2020). Considering signaling theory and novel research in organizational impression management, we examined the utility of various recruitment messaging techniques for attracting women job seekers to professions dominated by men, at both a consulting firm and law enforcement agency. Women evaluating consulting firm materials perceived greater behavioral integrity and were subsequently more attracted to the organization if recruitment messages included both high gender diversity signals and an explicit acknowledgement of the lack of gender diversity. With the law enforcement agency, a direct effect of the proposed interaction was identified, in that women were more attracted to police recruitment materials signaling gender diversity and explicitly acknowledging the lack of gender diversity within the agency. Materials had no adverse effect on men’s attraction. Last, research questions surrounding person-organization fit and risk propensity were analyzed to further explore the acknowledgement tactic

The incremental contribution of the selection interview in college admissions

The issue of the incremental contribution of the interview in selection has received scant attention in the literature. The present study was conducted to investigate two questions; The extent to which ratings made on the basis of the interview and on paper-credentials tap similar constructs, and the extent to which the interview provides any incremental contribution over paper credentials to the prediction of a selection decision. 506 applicants to an undergraduate program at a small, private, southwestern university were independently evaluated on the basis of an interview, and paper credentials. Ratings were made of applicant motivation and oral communication in both conditions. Information on applicant SAT scores, class rank, sex, race, attractiveness, and essay were also obtained from the application folder. Interview ratings were found to tap different constructs from the evaluation of paper credentials, and to provide different and non-redundant information. However, although the interview did provide some incremental contribution in predicting the first-phase selection decision, it provided no incremental variance in predicting the final decision by the admissions committee to accept, wait-list, or reject applicants. Implications of the present findings, as well as, future research directions are discussed

The Selection Interview From The Interviewer And Applicant Perspectives: Can\u27T Have One Without The Other

This chapter reviews the research on the most frequently used of all instruments of employee selection: the interview. When considered as a means of assessing applicant job qualifications, the interview is typically discussed from the interviewer\u27s perspective. We propose in the present chapter that the quality of the interview as a tool of assessment depends on taking into consideration both the interviewer and the applicant perspective. Interviewers attempt to gather information on applicants and select among them. Although it is apparent that structuring the process improves the reliability and validity of their assessments, interviewers must balance the goal of selection with other goals such as recruitment. On the other hand, applicants manage impressions, gather information, and judge the position and the work environment. We discuss the alternative objectives that both interviewer and applicant bring to the interview and how these objectives can clash. We conclude by considering strategies for improving the interview as a means of assessment by dealing with tensions that can exist between and within interviewer and applicant

Do Agentic Female Managers Receive Social Backlash from Workers? An Empirical Study

The present study attempted to test whether a social backlash existed toward agentic female managers from the perspective of subordinates. Relationships between: manager agency, manager gender, and reference sex, on worker perceptions, were examined via text scripts. Findings indicated that workers prefer communal managers regardless of gender, but that communal managers may lack competence. Agentic women were rated equally to agentic men in terms of how participant workers perceived their social skills, which contradicted past Backlash literature. Finally, a two-way interaction also highlighted the benefits of competitive managers being introduced to their new subordinates via an informal positive female reference