The application of factorial surveys to study recruiters’ hiring intentions: comparing designs based on hypothetical and real vacancies

in Quality and Quantity (2021), 55

Factorial survey experiments have been widely used to study recruiters’ hiring intentions. Respondents are asked to evaluate hypothetical applicant descriptions, which are experimentally manipulated, for ... [more ▼]

Factorial survey experiments have been widely used to study recruiters’ hiring intentions. Respondents are asked to evaluate hypothetical applicant descriptions, which are experimentally manipulated, for hypothetical job descriptions. However, this methodology has been criticized for putting respondents in hypothetical situations that often only partially correspond to real-life hiring situations. It has been proposed that this criticism can be overcome by sampling real-world vacancies and the recruiters responsible for filling them. In such an approach, only the applicants’ descriptions are hypothetical; respondents are asked about a real hiring problem, which might increase internal and external validity. In this study, we test whether using real vacancies triggers more valid judgments compared to designs based on hypothetical vacancies. The growing number of factorial survey experiments conducted in employer studies makes addressing this question relevant, both for methodological and practical reasons. However, despite the potential implications for the validity of data, it has been neglected so far. We conducted a factorial survey experiment in Luxembourg, in which respondents evaluated hypothetical applicants referring either to a currently vacant position in their company or to a hypothetical job. Overall, we found little evidence for differences in responses by the design of the survey experiment. However, the use of real vacancies might prove beneficial depending on the research interest. We hope that our comparison of designs using real and hypothetical vacancies contributes to the emerging methodological inquiry on the possibilities and limits of using factorial survey experiments in research on hiring. [less ▲]

The application of factorial surveys to study recruiters’ hiring intentions: comparing designs based on hypothetical and real vacancies

in Quality and Quantity (2020)

Factorial survey experiments have been widely used to study recruiters’ hiring intentions. Respondents are asked to evaluate hypothetical applicant descriptions, which are experimentally manipulated, for ... [more ▼]

Factorial survey experiments have been widely used to study recruiters’ hiring intentions. Respondents are asked to evaluate hypothetical applicant descriptions, which are experimentally manipulated, for hypothetical job descriptions. However, this methodology has been criticized for putting respondents in hypothetical situations that often only partially correspond to real-life hiring situations. It has been proposed that this criticism can be overcome by sampling real-world vacancies and the recruiters responsible for filling them. In such an approach, only the applicants’ descriptions are hypothetical; respondents are asked about a real hiring problem, which might increase internal and external validity. In this study, we test whether using real vacancies triggers more valid judgments compared to designs based on hypothetical vacancies. The growing number of factorial survey experiments conducted in employer studies makes addressing this question relevant, both for methodological and practical reasons. However, despite the potential implications for the validity of data, it has been neglected so far.We conducted a factorial survey experiment in Luxembourg, in which respondents evaluated hypothetical applicants referring either to a currently vacant position in their company or to a hypothetical job. Overall, we found little evidence for differences in responses by the design of the survey experiment. However, the use of real vacancies might prove beneficial depending on the research interest.We hope that our comparison of designs using real and hypothetical vacancies contributes to the emerging methodological inquiry on the possibilities and limits of using factorial survey experiments in research on hiring. [less ▲]

How unemployment scarring affects skilled young workers: evidence from a factorial survey of Swiss recruiters

in Journal for Labour Market Research (2018), 52(7),

We ask how employers contribute to unemployment scarring in the recruitment process in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. By drawing on recruitment theories, we aim to better understand how ... [more ▼]

We ask how employers contribute to unemployment scarring in the recruitment process in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. By drawing on recruitment theories, we aim to better understand how recruiters assess different patterns of unemployment in a job candidate’s CV and how this affects the chances of young applicants being considered for a vacancy. We argue that in contexts with tight school-work linkage and highly standardised Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems, the detrimental effect of early unemployment depends on how well the applicant’s profile matches the requirements of the advertised position. To test this assumption, we surveyed Swiss recruiters who were seeking to fill positions during the time of data collection. We employed a factorial survey experiment that tested how the (un)employment trajectories in hypothetical young job applicants’ CVs affected their chances of being considered for a real vacancy. Our results show that unemployment decreases the perceived suitability of an applicant for a specific job, which implies there is a scarring effect of unemployment that increases with the duration of being unemployed. But we also found that these effects are moderated by how well the applicant’s profile matches the job’s requirements. Overall, the worse the match between applicant’s profile and the job profile, the smaller are the scarring effects of unemployment. In sum, our findings contribute to the literature by revealing considerable heterogeneity in the scarring effects of unemployment. Our findings further suggest that the scarring effects of unemployment need to be studied with regard to country-specific institutional settings, the applicants’ previous education and employment experiences, and the job characteristics. [less ▲]

Le chômage, ennemi de l’employabilité

in Die Volkswirtschaft = La Vie économique (2018), 10

Avec un marché de l’emploi en pleine mutation structurelle, un parcours rectiligne après l’apprentissage ne constitue plus la norme. Tout porte à croire que le nombre d’interruptions de carrière – forcées ... [more ▼]

Avec un marché de l’emploi en pleine mutation structurelle, un parcours rectiligne après l’apprentissage ne constitue plus la norme. Tout porte à croire que le nombre d’interruptions de carrière – forcées ou volontaires – ne cessera d’augmenter. Dans ces circonstances, la question est de savoir comment les employeurs désireux de repourvoir un poste perçoivent ces parenthèses dans le curriculum des jeunes à la recherche d’un emploi. Une étude récente menée en Suisse parvient à la conclusion qu’une période de chômage porte atteinte à l’employabilité, et que ce phénomène n’épargne pas les détenteurs d’un certificat fédéral de capacité. [less ▲]

The Effects of Deskilling and Unemployment on Hiring Decisions

Scientific Conference (2017, November 08)

Institutional Determinants of Early Job Insecurity in Nine European Countries: Country Report Switzerland

E-print/Working paper (2017)

An overview of institutional determinants of early job insecurity in Switzerland.

Studying Scarring Effects Using Factorial Designs: Rating or Ranking?

Scientific Conference (2016, November 09)

Early job insecurity is a much-discussed topic across European countries. Research overwhelmingly found that being unemployed after graduation affects employment chances and also future wages negatively ... [more ▼]

Early job insecurity is a much-discussed topic across European countries. Research overwhelmingly found that being unemployed after graduation affects employment chances and also future wages negatively, other research, however, did not find such scarring effects. Some of this mixed evidence may be due to the different ways in which data were collected. Evaluating the effects of potentially stigmatizing applicant characteristics on hiring chances, such as previous unemployment spells, is known to be prone to social desirability bias. Factorial survey experiments (FSE) and forced choice experiments (FCE) have been suggested to alleviate some of these problems. In this workshop contribution, we gauge the capability of FSE and FCE to estimate effects of early career unemployment spells on recruiters’ hiring decisions. Using data obtained from a survey with sequentially implemented FSE and FCE with 2000 recruiters in Bulgaria, Greece, Norway, and Switzerland we compare FSE and FCE using multilevel linear regression models and multilevel probit models with random effects. Our preliminary results suggest that FCE may be better suited to gather valid data with minimal social desirability bias. [less ▲]

Impact of Insecure Employment Trajectories on Employers' Hiring Decisions in Switzerland

in Baslé, Maurice; Beaupère, Nathalie; Guéguen, Chantal (Eds.) et al Les transitions professionnelles tout au long de la vie. Nouveaux regards, nouveaux sens, nouvelles temporalités ? (2016)