Topic: Diversity, Recruiting, Staffing
Publication: Journal of Business Ethics

Article:
Social desirability response bias, gender, and factors influencing
organizational commitment: An international study.

Author: R.A. Bernardi, S.T. Guptill

Featured by: Lit Digger

Given today’s economy, job openings are
drying up.  However, for those
companies that DO have open positions to fill, recruiters may still find it
valuable to emphasize the aspects of the company that prospective applicants
are looking for.  So what are some
key factors that job interviewees are seeking from potential employers?

Bernardi and Guptill (2009) examined the
following five factors that have been found in previous literature to predict
an employee’s willingness to stay committed to his/her company: the amount of
resources available from the company, fairness at work, the amount of care and
concern that management has for employees, the degree to which employees are
trusted by management, and the company’s reputation in the community.  So are ALL of these also considered
important by people interviewing for a job?  Well, the degree of importance may depend on the applicant’s
country of origin.

The authors found that respondents from
Ecuador, Columbia, and South Africa regarded the above five factors as more important than respondents from Canada,
Hong Kong, Ireland, and the United States.  They also took out the effects of gender and for social
desirability bias in their study, which was a notable contribution for ethics
research. 

Okay, so there were differences across
countries.  But were there any
differences between males and females overall?  Apparently, yes. 
Males didn’t rate any of the
five factors as highly as females – but at the same time, females were
generally more likely to answer in socially desirable ways than males.

So, maybe recruiters and interviewers
should keep in mind the country of origin and gender of each job candidate
while deciding what points to emphasize in their attempt to attract and retain
the best talent.  Of course, these
findings do not generalize to everyone,
but they still may provide some helpful hints along the way.

Bernardi,
R.A., Guptill, S.T., (2009). Social desirability response bias, gender, and
factors influencing organizational commitment: An international study. Journal
of Business Ethics, 81, 797-809.