Changing an Unfavorable Employment Reputation: A Longitudinal Examination

Although a favorable employment reputation plays an important role in generating a large and qualified pool of job applicants for an organization (Rynes & Cable, 2003), little research has investigated whether organizations can improve applicants’ existing unfavorable employment reputation perceptions. Results from a four-week longitudinal experiment using 222 student job seekers revealed that participants’ employment reputation perceptions improved after exposure to recruitment practices and followed diminishing returns trajectories over time. High information recruitment practices (e.g., personal communication from a recruiter) from both single and multiple sources were more effective for changing unfavorable employment reputation perceptions than repeated mere exposure to the organization (i.e., exposure to only the company logo), and high information practices from multiple sources were the most effective overall. Finally, participants reporting less familiarity with the organization experienced greater reputation change across the four weeks, but only for participants in the mere exposure condition

A Multilevel Analysis of the Effect of Prompting Self-Regulation in Technology-Delivered Instruction

We used a within-subjects design and multilevel modeling in two studies to examine the effect of prompting self-regulation, an intervention designed to improve learning from technology-delivered instruction. The results of two studies indicate trainees who were prompted to self-regulate gradually improved their knowledge and performance over time, relative to the control condition. In addition, Study 2 demonstrated that trainees’ cognitive ability and self-efficacy moderated the effect of the prompts. Prompting self-regulation resulted in stronger learning gains over time for trainees with higher ability or higher self-efficacy. Overall, the two studies demonstrate that prompting self-regulation had a gradual, positive effect on learning, and the strength of the effect increased as trainees progressed through training. The results are consistent with theory suggesting self-regulation is a cyclical process that has a gradual effect on learning and highlight the importance of using a within-subjects design in self-regulation. research

Adaptive Guidance: Effects On Self-Regulated Learning In Technology-Based Training

Guidance provides trainees with the information necessary to make effective use of the learner control inherent in technology-based training, but also allows them to retain a sense of control over their learning (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002). One challenge, however, is determining how much learner control, or autonomy, to build into the guidance strategy. We examined the effects of alternative forms of guidance (autonomy supportive vs. controlling) on trainees’ learning and performance, and examined trainees’ cognitive ability and motivation to learn as potential moderators of these effects. Consistent with our hypotheses, trainees receiving adaptive guidance had higher levels of knowledge and performance than trainees in a learner control guidance. Controlling guidance had the most consistent positive impact on the learning outcomes, while autonomy supportive guidance demonstrated utility for more strategic outcomes. In addition, guidance was generally more effective for trainees with higher levels of cognitive ability and autonomy guidance served to enhance the positive effects of motivation to learn on the training outcomes

Guiding Learners through Technology-Based Instruction: The Effects of Adaptive Guidance Design and Individual Differences on Learning over Time

Adaptive guidance is an instructional intervention that helps learners to make use of the control inherent in technology-based instruction. The present research investigated the interactive effects of guidance design (i.e., framing of guidance information) and individual differences (i.e., pre-training motivation and ability) on learning basic and strategic task skills over time. 130 participants were randomly assigned to one of two types of adaptive guidance (autonomy-supportive, controlling) or a no-guidance condition while learning to perform a complex simulation task over nine consecutive trials. Results indicated that participants receiving controlling guidance acquired strategic task skills at a faster rate than participants receiving autonomy-supportive guidance or no-guidance. The design of adaptive guidance also moderated the effects of pre-training motivation and cognitive ability on learners’ acquisition of basic and strategic task skills. Specifically, autonomy-supportive guidance enhanced the positive effects of pre-training motivation on the acquisition of basic task skills, and controlling guidance enhanced the positive effects of cognitive ability on the acquisition of strategic task skills. Implications for research and practice are discussed

A Comparison of the Effects of Positive and Negative Information on Job Seekers’ Organizational Attraction and Attribute Recall

To date there have been no direct studies of how strong negative information from sources outside of organizations’ direct control impacts job seekers’ organizational attraction. This study compared models for positive and negative information against a neutral condition using a longitudinal experimental study with college-level job seekers (n = 175). Consistent with the accessibility-diagnosticity perspective, the results indicated that negative information had a greater impact than positive information on job seekers’ organizational attraction and recall, and this effect persisted one week after exposure. The results did not indicate that the influence of information sources and topics that fit together was lessened when the information was negative. The results suggest that job seekers interpret positive and negative information differently and that negative information, when present, has an important influence on job seekers’ organizational attraction

Current Issues and Future Directions in Simulation-Based Training in North America

A number of emerging challenges including globalization, economic pressures, and the changing nature of work have combined to create a business environment that demands innovative, flexible training solutions. Simulations are a promising tool for creating more realistic, experiential learning environments to meet these challenges. Unfortunately, the current literature on simulation-based training paints a mixed picture as to the effectiveness of simulations as training tools, with most of the previous research focusing on the specific technologies used in simulation design and little theory-based research focusing on the instructional capabilities or learning processes underlying these technologies. This article examines the promise and perils of simulation-based training, reviews research that has examined the effectiveness of simulations as training tools, identifies pressing research needs, and presents an agenda for future theory-driven research aimed at addressing those needs

Job Search And Job Choice From The Perspective Of College-Educated Employees

How do employed persons think about job searching? This dissertation draws on an analysis of decision process research and two qualitative studies to answer this question. The study explores the factors that lead employees to begin their job search and the way employees represent their job searches. Previous literature on job search and job choice has been developed in the context of unemployed job losers and unemployed new labor market entrants. In addition, turnover research has focused mostly on factors that cause employees to leave their current position, giving little attention to employees who do not leave but still search. This study argues that employees face a unique decision situation and their job searches. Employees' situations are unique because they do not have a set starting point for job searching, they may not dislike their current position. This dissertation is a contribution to the literature on job search and voluntary turnover. The dissertation inductively explored the factors that prompt employees to search for new employment, the way employees structure the employment decision problem, and their motivations driving their decisions and behaviors

Guiding Learners through Technology-Based Instruction: The Effects of Adaptive Guidance Design and Individual Differences on Learning over Time

Adaptive guidance is an instructional intervention that helps learners to make use of the control inherent in technology-based instruction. The present research investigated the interactive effects of guidance design (i.e., framing of guidance information) and individual differences (i.e., pre-training motivation and ability) on learning basic and strategic task skills over time. 130 participants were randomly assigned to one of two types of adaptive guidance (autonomy-supportive, controlling) or a no-guidance condition while learning to perform a complex simulation task over nine consecutive trials. Results indicated that participants receiving controlling guidance acquired strategic task skills at a faster rate than participants receiving autonomy-supportive guidance or no-guidance. The design of adaptive guidance also moderated the effects of pre-training motivation and cognitive ability on learners’ acquisition of basic and strategic task skills. Specifically, autonomy-supportive guidance enhanced the positive effects of pre-training motivation on the acquisition of basic task skills, and controlling guidance enhanced the positive effects of cognitive ability on the acquisition of strategic task skills. Implications for research and practice are discussed.Bell95_Guiding_learners.pdf: 86 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Exploring job seeker profiles through latent profile analysis

Primarily using a variable-centered approach, job search research explores the connections between antecedents, processes, and outcomes. A person-centered approach, however, categorizes individuals based on personal and contextual elements. This study used CSM as a theoretical framework to identify job seeker profiles by exploring configurations of job search self-efficacy, conscientiousness, financial need, social pressure, and job search quality and intensity. We examined how these profiles correspond with sociodemographic variables and job search outcomes such as rumination, interviews, and job offers. In a sample of 300 job seekers, four profiles emerged: casual job search contemplator, financially burdened job seeker, financially secure job seeker, and multifaceted job search strategist. The contemplator profile correlated with the fewest interviews, while the financially burdened job seeker had the most. These findings suggest career counselors need to recognize distinctive job seeker patterns requiring tailored counseling approaches, underscoring the potential of the person-centered approach for further job search research

Is Your Company Only as Good as its Reputation? Looking at your Brand Through the Eyes of Job Seekers

Key Findings The researchers found evidence that the repetition of messages over time has a cumulative positive effect, suggesting that providing multiple messages to job seekers is better than a single message. Also, compared to repeat low information recruitment practices (such as exposure to a company’s logo), repeated exposure to high information practices (for example, detailed messages from a corporate recruiter) were more effective for changing an unfavorable employer reputation over time. Companies can use both high and low information recruitment messages to improve job seekers’ unfavorable perceptions of a company’s reputation as an employer, but high information messages seem to have a more positive impact than do low information messages. Regardless of either low or high information recruitment messages, job seekers who were more familiar with the organization at the start of the study were less likely to change their perceptions of the organization than job seekers who knew less about the organization. In other words, strongly held negative beliefs about an employer may be harder to change than are less favorably formed beliefs. The high information message has a positive impact on employer reputation perceptions in the first exposure, helps to maintain that positive boost in the second, but the third exposure seems to counteract the initial boost.No1_16_ResearchLink_Collins.pdf: 94 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020