The effects of interview structure on recruiting outcomes

Abstract

Two laboratory experiments explored the effects of interview structure on evaluations and perceptions of the interview and organization. In the first experiment, subjects were presented with transcripts of interviews and were found to react more favorably to unstructured interviews. This effect was somewhat stronger when there was no information on the job and organization. In the second experiment, participants were presented with profiles of interviews that varied on interviewer warmth and 3 attributes commonly associated with structured interviews (job relevance, low voice, standardization). Participants preferred interviews that were low on job relevance, high on voice, low on standardization, and high on warmth. The preference for low standardization was most pronounced when there was high voice than when there was low voice.