Psychology Ph.D. Dissertations

Practitioner Resistance to Structured Interviews: A Comparison of Two Models

Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Psychology/Industrial-Organizational

First Advisor

Scott Highhouse (Advisor)

Second Advisor

Stefan Fritsch (Other)

Third Advisor

Richard Anderson (Committee Member)

Fourth Advisor

Michael Zickar (Committee Member)

Abstract

Despite the superior reliability and validity of structured interviews over unstructured interviews for selecting employees, human resource (HR) practitioners’ resistance to structured interviews is a documented phenomenon in organizational research. Research examining theoretical models of reasons for this resistance, however, are limited (Dipboye, 1994, 1997; van der Zee, Bakker, & Bakker, 2002). Using a sample of 227 Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers with previous hiring experience in their current organizations, the current study compares the ability of the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) and the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1986; Davis et al. 1989), to explain resistance to using structured interviews for employee selection. Results of structural equation modeling using robust maximum likelihood estimation found the technology acceptance model to be a better explanation for the data compared to the partially supported theory of planned behavior. Both the theory of planned behavior and the technology acceptance model predicted roughly the same amount of variance in structured interview use behavior, 42% and 40% respectively. Implications as well as both theories ability to stimulate further research on acceptance of structured interviews for employee selection, and inform the development of strategies to overcome this resistance is discussed.

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