Watch What You Say: Job Applicants’ Justice Perceptions From Initial Organizational Correspondence

• Author: Talya N. Bauer,H. Jack Walker,Catherine A. Helmuth,Hubert S. Feild
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21655
• Date: 01 November 2015
• Published date: 01 November 2015

Human Resource Management, November–December 2015, Vol. 54, No. 6. Pp. 999–1011

© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21655

Correspondence to: H. Jack Walker, Auburn University, 415 Lowder Business Building, Auburn, AL 36849,

Phone: 334-844-6510, Fax: 334-844-5159, E-mail: Walkeh1@auburn.edu.

of the selection process (Shaw, Wild, & Colquitt,

2003; Truxillo, Bodner, Bertolino, Bauer, & Yonce,

2009). Specifically, organizations can improve

fairness perceptions, thus promoting positive

organizational views among job applicants, by

delivering specific information concerning selec-

tion process decisions in an interpersonally sensi-

tive manner (Bauer etal., 2001; Ployhart, Ryan, &

Bennett, 1999).

While the selection explanations’ litera-

ture has certainly advanced our understanding

of how recruiting organizations can proactively

influence job applicants’ reactions, we argue that

Scholars have consistently shown that

job applicants’ fairness perceptions re-

garding recruitment and selection pro-

cedures influence a variety of important

outcomes such as perceived organiza-

tional attractiveness (Bauer, Maertz, Dolen, &

Campion, 1998), applicant withdrawal behavior

(Schmit & Ryan, 1997), and applicant perfor-

mance on selection procedures, such as written

tests (Chan, 1997). One influential stream of re-

search focuses on how the explanations provided

by organizations to job applicants regarding selec-

tion decisions influence their fairness perceptions

WATCH WHAT YOU SAY: JOB

APPLICANTS’ JUSTICE PERCEPTIONS

FROM INITIAL ORGANIZATIONAL

CORRESPONDENCE

H. JACK WALKER, CATHERINE A. HELMUTH,

HUBERT S. FEILD, AND TALYA N. BAUER

Although it is a common practice for organizations to communicate with job

seekers following application submission, little is known about how applicants

react to this correspondence. Drawing from recruitment and organizational jus-

tice theories, we explore the possibility that specifi c correspondence content

infl uences job seekers’ fairness perceptions. Data collected from 119 actual job

applicants indicated that providing relevant information about the recruitment

process (information adequacy) positively related to informational and inter-

personal justice perceptions. However, delivering this information in an inter-

personally sensitive manner (information sensitivity) had a stronger impact

on interpersonal justice perceptions. Finally, post hoc analyses suggested that

incorporating specifi c content delivered in initial job applicant correspondence

could allow recruiting organizations to develop practical, cost-effective strate-

gies for enhancing job seekers’ fairness perceptions following their application

submission. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keyword: recruitment