Recruitment and Selection in the Public Sector: Do Rules Shape Managers’ Practices?

• Published date: 01 June 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00910260221146145
• Author: Ann-Kristina Løkke,Anders Ryom Villadsen,Anne Skipper Bach
• Date: 01 June 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260221146145

Public Personnel Management

2023, Vol. 52(2) 218 –239

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/00910260221146145

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Article

Recruitment and Selection in

the Public Sector: Do Rules

Shape Managers’ Practices?

Ann-Kristina Løkke1, Anders Ryom Villadsen1,

and Anne Skipper Bach1

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of optimal rule control on recruitment and

selection practices in public organizations. Although rules are argued to constrain

organizational practices and organizational performance, there is limited knowledge

about the relationship of optimal rule control to recruitment and selection practices

from a managerial perspective. By conducting a study with survey responses from

1,000 public frontline managers, combined with administrative data, this article

investigates how optimal rule control is associated with the formation of recruitment

objectives and selections based on values and cultural fit. Findings indicate a positive

relationship between optimal rule control and the formation of recruitment

objectives and selections based on fit. Unexpectedly, managerial tenure does not

seem to moderate the association between optimal rule control and recruitment and

selection practices. The study contributes to the public human resource management

literature by focusing on the influence of organizational rules on human resource

practices.

Keywords

recruitment and selection, optimal rule control, managerial tenure, public sector

organizations, Denmark

1Aarhus University, Denmark

Corresponding Author:

Ann-Kristina Løkke, Department of Management, Aarhus University, Fuglesangs Allé 4, 8210 Aarhus V,

Denmark.

Email: aklm@mgmt.au.dk

1146145PPMXXX10.1177/00910260221146145Public Personnel ManagementLøkke et al.

research-article2023

Løkke et al. 219

Introduction

Recruitment of highly skilled employees to ensure efficient provision of public ser-

vices is a key concern for public organizations. This concern is partly due to the

increasing complexity of tasks (Andrews & Boyne, 2014), but also natural retirement

of an aging workforce and a diminishing talent supply in some professional disciplines

(OECD, 2021). Thus, recruiting talents, particularly to professional and service occu-

pations, is a challenge for many public organizational managers (Asseburg et al., 2018;

Ployhart, 2016).

Consequently, recruitment and selection processes in the public sector are more

essential in human resource management (HRM) systems than ever (Leisink & Steijn,

2008). These processes are, however, often characterized by bureaucracy (Gravier &

Roth, 2020), regulative pressures (Boon & Verhoest, 2018), and formalization and

administrative burdens (Linos & Riesch, 2019; Sievert et al., 2020). Although these

characteristics can work to promote accountability and equality (Villadsen & Wulff,

2018), they sometimes also harm the efficiency of the hiring process. Thus, rules can

be perceived as both beneficial and harmful, depending on the level of control (DeHart-

Davis et al., 2015). According to the literature, an optimal rule control is present if

rules are not perceived as burdensome, excessive, and unnecessary, (DeHart-Davis,

2009) but rather support the work of the organization.

Until now, attention to rules and regulations and their significance for recruitment

and selection has primarily been assessed from the perspective of job applicants (e.g.,

Linos & Riesch, 2019; Sievert et al., 2020). Hence, little research has empirically

investigated how managers perceive rule control in the hiring process, and how it

affects their recruitment and selection practices. Addressing this gap is important.

First, managers play a vital role for the implementation of recruitment and selection

practices, and thus whether public organizations succeed in recruiting highly qualified

staff. For instance, in the recruitment process, managers are often first point of contact

for applicants and are able to provide specific information about the job. Lacking other

information, managers might be viewed as signals of how applicants may be treated if

hired (cf. Breaugh & Starke, 2000). Second, although research indicates that manag-

ers’ general behavior is shaped by rule control, there is a call for further investigations

of this association into specific managerial domains (Hattke et al., 2017), such as

recruitment and selection, to build more detailed theoretical understandings of when

rules are harmful or the opposite. Although research indicates that rules and regula-

tions have an impact on the form, content, and impact of HRM in public sector work-

places (Blom et al., 2020; Boselie et al., 2019), research on the influence of optimal

rule control on specific elements of HRM is much scarcer. Especially with regard to

the recruitment and selection process, there is a call for more research, for instance,

examining where in the recruitment process problematic rules have the largest impact

(Linos & Riesch, 2019).

When considered as a single process of hiring, recruitment and selection is a HRM

practice that unfolds in several phases, which all matter for the outcome of the process.

Early phases are preparatory, while later phases focus on attracting and assessing job