Reactions towards pre-employment screening procedures: Perceptions of fairness and validity.

• In Event: Collateral consequences, criminal records and employment

Abstract

A large body of research investigates applicant reactions towards selection procedures, such as personality assessments and job interviews. However, no work has yet investigated reactions towards pre-employment screening procedures such as financial debt and criminal records screening, despite the fact that such procedures may reveal stigma of applicants. Moreover, organizations may have little discretion in these pre-employment screening procedures as there may be legal restrictions that prohibit people with criminal convictions from working in specific jobs. Therefore, it cannot be automatically assumed that employers and/or screeners have positive perceptions regarding the fairness and validity of such pre-employment screening procedures. The current quantitative study therefore investigates perceptions of fairness and validity towards various pre-employment screening procedures and compares those to reactions towards several standard selection procedures. Moreover, the current study also investigates whether these perceptions of applicants, employers, and screeners converge. The results of the current study help better understand how such widespread pre-employment screening procedures are perceived by various stakeholders. They also help explain various self-selection behaviors of applicants, e.g., withdrawal from selection procedures, and of employers, e.g., implementing criminal record screening when not legally required for the position.

Authors

• Ard Barends, Leiden University

• Elina van 't Zand-Kurtovic, Leiden University