Candidate Selection Process Is Fair Sense Of Empirical Research

As the first step to interact with society, selection justice is usually the starting line of organizational justice. By making selection procedures fair, organizations are able to build trust from applicants and potential employees, which in turn help organizations to achieve exclusive competitive advantages. Studies suggest that applicants' perceived fairness toward selection procedures really influences their pre-and post-hiring attitudes and behavioral intentions, and fairness perceptions are determined by personal characteristics, job and organizational characteristics. Drawing on the fact that the theory of organization justice was developed in North America and the mainstream studies regarding selection justice were also conducted in North America, cross-cultural examination of selection justice beyond North America is necessary. Nonetheless, 'cultural difference' is not covered in the current theoretical model of applicants' fairness reactions. By employing 'cultural value' as indicator of 'cultural difference', the purpose of the current paper is to explore, theoretically and empirically, how cultural differences affect applicants' fairness perceptions and outcome variables.This paper first reviews literature of organizational justice, selection justice and especially procedural justice in selection, then analyzes cross-cultural studies in the area of organizational justice and selection justice. Regarding antecedents of organizational justice, previous researches mainly focus on situational factors while individual differences (e.g., cultural value, personality, and test experience) are neglected. Cross-cultural studies of organizational justice have made some progress, but no research depicts clearly the working mechanism of cultural values during the developing process of fairness perceptions. Cross-cultural study of selection is inchoate, available researches in this domain are chiefly cross-country studies which explain how test type impacts applicants' perceived fairness toward selection tests, and most studies in selection justice analyzes the relationship between perceived fairness and various behavioral intentions other than actual behaviors. Drawing on extant research conclusions in the area of selection and hints from cross-cultural studies of organizational justice, it may be feasible for cross-cultural study of organizational justice to explore how cultural values under specific cultural background shape individuals' fairness perceptions and consequent behavioral outcomes by combining emic and etic perspectives.Confucianism represents the kernel of Chinese traditional culture and has profound influences on every aspect of Chinese life. Under Confucianism, western procedural justice rules (e.g., indicators of procedural fairness perceptions) may vary, and the developing mechanism of applicants' perceived fairness and its influence on attitudinal and behavioral outcomes may also be discrepant from those of North America. Therefore, the present study unfolds along there lines. Firstly, to extract kernel values of Confucianism and the content of procedural justice under Confucian traditional values; Secondly, to explore antecedents of applicants' perceived fairness toward selection procedures; Finally, to examine relationships between procedural fairness perceptions and outcome variables and how Confucian traditional values moderate these relationships.Based on literature analysis, the current paper draws four Confucian traditional values most relevant with the area of organizational justice: respect and compliance toward authority, tolerance and altruism, relation orientation, and face rule. Then by interviews and a survey, it determines procedural justice rules and accordingly indicators of procedural fairness perceptions regarding interviews under Chinese culture. The study finds that procedural justice of interviews in China are partially different from those of North America. Chinese applicants concern more about interactional justice rules than systematic ones and rules like "reconsideration opportunity" do not work in China.Next, the paper develops a theoretical model for research of applicants' fairness perceptions in Chinese culture. In light of the model, Confucian traditional values, big-five personality, and test experiences affect applicants' fairness expectations toward selection procedures, which in turn mold applicants' procedural fairness perceptions; Applicants' procedural fairness perceptions influence their trust toward the organization, which in turn leads to various pre- and post-hiring attitudes and behaviors; Finally, Confucian traditional values and outcome instrumentality moderates the relationship between trust and these outcomes. Hypotheses are tested by structural equation modeling based on 530 questionnaires from a survey conducted among organizations in Beijing and Tianjin.Empirical findings from the study regarding antecedents of applicants' fairness perceptions are as follows. Firstly, Confucian traditional values are a relation-orientation whose essence is relation harmony. Secondly, Confucian traditional values predict applicants' fairness perceptions toward selection procedures, three dimensions of Confucian traditional values-respect and compliance toward authority, tolerance and altruism, and face rule-influence applicants' procedural fairness perceptions significantly. The pre-determining effect of cultural values on fairness perceptions is validated. Moreover, the hypothesis regarding the impact of big-five personality traits on fairness perceptions is partially validated. The higher emotional stability and conscientiousness, the higher fairness perceptions. Extroversion, openness to experiences, and agreeableness do not affect fairness perceptions significantly. Furthermore, test experience is a valid predictor of applicants' fairness perceptions as well. The more positive the test experience, the higher applicants' fairness perceptions. Additionally, beyond big-five personality traits and test experience, Confucian traditional values provide extra explanations to variation of fairness perceptions, indicating the paramount role of cultural values in determining procedural fairness perceptions. Finally, fairness expectation mediates the relationship between individual differences and fairness perceptions. Accordingly, the fairness threshold is explained by fairness expectation soundly.Empirical findings from the study pertaining to outcomes of applicants' fairness perceptions covers: As hypothesized, procedural fairness perceptions of applicants influence their post-hiring work attitudes-job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention. Especially, procedural fairness perceptions shape applicants' pre- and post-hiring work behaviors, including recommendation behavior work performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Furthermore, trust mediates the relationship between procedural fairness perceptions and various outcome variables. However, the moderating effect of Confucian traditional values is not supported by the current study, which may result from trade-off effects of other moderators.Drawing on the premise that fairness perceptions are culture-bound, the current study examines thoroughly how cultural values affect applicants' fairness perceptions toward selection procedures, presents and tests a theoretical model regarding the influence of cultural values on fairness perceptions. In light of literature in Chinese and English, it contributes to the theory development in selection domain in several ways. It maybe the first study to explore cultural values as an antecedent of procedural fairness perceptions under selection context, and perhaps the first study to examine the moderating effect of cultural values on the relationship between applicants' fairness perceptions and work outcomes. Moreover, the current paper also demonstrates fully and empirically for the first time how individual differences shape applicants' fairness perceptions toward selection procedures, which in turn influence important work outcomes. Furthermore, considering that the study of applicants' fairness perceptions is quite limited in China, this paper also contributes to research of applicants' fairness reactions in China. In conclusion, by combining emic and etic perspectives, the current study develops and tests a valuable theoretical framework for cross-cultural research in organizational justice and other areas, and indicates the practical direction and path to reach selection justice.