The topic of job choice subsumes all the activities involved in the process of deciding where to work. The concept underlying job choice research is that individuals are motivated to find work consistent with their preferences and goals. Job seekers engage in a goal-directed search process and compare each potential job relative to alternatives. The job choice literature has been heavily informed by the literature on recruiting and person-environment fit. The unique contribution of research on job choice is the focus on the individual job seeker and his or her information acquisition and decision-making strategy.
期待and Job Choice
Most job-choice models start from some variant of expectancy theory. Job seekers begin from a set of alternative jobs and then evaluate the attractiveness of each alternative based on key attributes. Examples of relevant attributes include instrumental attributes such as compensation and working conditions, affective or interpersonal attributes such as relationships with coworkers, and cognitive attributes such as intrinsic interest in job tasks and achievement on the job. Each job’s attractiveness is based on valence, instrumentality, and expectancy:
- Valence:个人重要性权重(例如,价值)每个求职者都附加了工作可能拥有的每个属性。求职者在每个属性上的重点各不相同,因此有些求职者将对获得良好的工作最感兴趣,而其他求职者将对在良好的社交环境中的工作更感兴趣,而另一些人则会更感兴趣在提供成就感的工作中。
- 工具:获取每个作业的每个属性的可能性。属性表示为概率,因为尽管求职者对每项工作的可能属性有信念,但这些属性尚不确定。一个实际上认识在公司工作的人的求职者对他或她对工作属性的估计比仅通过招聘人员了解公司的求职者更有信心。因此,具有内部连接的求职者将在工作属性上比只有招聘人员信息的求职者更高的工具。
- 期待:求职者对他们获得工作能力并在录用情况下表现良好的能力的评估。自我效能或自尊会增加与每个工作的积极属性相关的期望,而在选择阶段获得工作的困难以及在工作中表现良好的困难会降低预期。
最终决策过程由预期X工具X Valence的基本三级产品项表示。该产品术语的价值越高,求职者越有可能从事给定的工作。
尽管其准确性远非完美,但工作选择的期望模型作为一种预测设备的表现很好。鉴于研究证明了启发式方法,情绪和情感在决策中的重要性,因此,如果孤立地将期望对工作选择和个人成果的严格理性观点误导。前景理论表明,在负面事件方面,个人在积极事件和寻求风险方面都有风险。例如,前景理论表明,决策者将偏爱具有一些正面元素的高概率的工作,并且相对于几个正元素的概率低的工作,有几个负元素的可能性很小,并且有几个负面元素的机会很高,即使像期望值这样的严格线性模型也会期望工作与众不同。此外,其他决策研究表明,工作属性的加权不是所有相关属性的数学组合,而是以少数显着属性为中心的更情感驱动的过程。
期待models raise a number of informative questions about job attributes and individual valences but do not provide a system for understanding the processes underlying the assessment of jobs. Factors such as the intensity of job search, contextual limitations on job choice activities, and even the social connections at work must be addressed from other theoretical perspectives. In addition, expectancy theory formulations leave unanswered questions about how job seekers develop beliefs about the attributes of each job option. By adding behavioral decision making and process-oriented versions of job search to the expectancy formulation, a more complex picture of choice is emerging that uses the decision maker’s active participation in the process as a central theme.
开发工作选择集
Job seekers actively attempt to improve their match with their work environment during the job search process. Theoretically, those with more information will be better able to assess the extent to which they will match with their new positions. Therefore, the process of searching for a job is a major component of the job choice literature.
当一个人确定自己当前的就业状况未达到关键的就业目标时,就开始求职过程。因此,个人在工作选择过程中做出的首选是需要一项新工作。荟萃分析研究表明,具有更高财务需求和就业承诺的个人参与更强烈的求职,这与这些人相对于经济需求较小或较低就业承诺的概念一致。有证据表明,在自尊心和自我效能感上更高的人参与了更积极的工作搜索行为,这与这样的概念一致,即这样的人比自信心较低的人更期待寻找和获得新工作。
Job seekers use several techniques to find information regarding jobs and create their estimates of job attributes and the associated probabilities of obtaining each attribute. Evidence suggests that for most individuals, a social network is critical to the process of job search. Many of these networks are informal, including word of mouth provided by family and friends. Such sources are deemed more trustworthy in persuasion research and therefore produce descriptions of job features that have higher instrumentality. An important secondary source of information used by job seekers is formal organizational announcements regarding open positions. Because the organization is believed to have a vested interest in increasing application activity, job seekers attach lower instrumentality to these promised rewards. Job seekers also make inferences regarding culture based on the image an organization projects through product advertising and media coverage in professional magazines. Some organizations, cognizant of the importance of image, have begun to carefully craft an employment “brand” for themselves using techniques from marketing. Many of these techniques are designed to supplement rational information regarding options with appealing emotional images regarding alternatives.
Valence of Outcomes: Job Attributes
Once individuals are aware of potential jobs, the question of how they evaluate job attributes arises. Attraction to an organization is at least partially determined by the set of recruiting activities described elsewhere in this section of the site. But attraction is also shaped by factors that are more directly related to the rewards that come with a job, characteristics offered by the work, and organizational reputation. Certainly, some job preferences differ from person to person, but research also suggests that some job characteristics have high valence for nearly all job seekers.
劳动经济学领域的研究表明,毫不奇怪,大多数自愿营业额涉及从较低的薪水工作变为较高的薪水工作,这表明大多数人确实在金钱薪酬上占高价。模拟研究,其中受访者表明几个潜在的替代立场中的哪个最有吸引力,也支持薪酬在工作选择中的核心重要性。在管理员工中,对工作提供了进步,具有挑战性或有趣的工作,积极的组织环境和利益的看法也被评为高度价值的功能。进步通常需要更高的薪酬,进一步强调了货币奖励在工作选择过程中的重要性。进步还提供了成就和有趣的新工作任务的希望。关于其他人群首选的特定工作特征的信息较少,包括专业人士,服务人员和蓝领工人。
可能影响个人申请或接受工作机会的另一个因素是雇用组织的声誉。向最佳公司在美国工作的最佳公司的指南表明,潜在员工对企业文化有浓厚的兴趣。这样的指南通常描述了工作的社会方面,并暗示价不仅仅是金钱。就就业声誉而言,对公司对员工福祉的关注的看法与潜在申请人之间的工作选择意图有关。一种相关的可能性是,公司可以在某些社会问题上吸引申请人。尽管在这个问题上的证据有限,但有一些数据表明申请人确实考虑了组织的社会责任。
不同的票价:个性和工作偏好
研究主动决策者的一个主要含义是应考虑个体差异。尽管期望理论表明个人有不同的票价,但匹配的模型将该主张进一步迈出了一步,并调查了为什么不同的求职者更喜欢不同的工作。匹配模型建议个人将某些生产特征或“供应”带入包括他们的技能和能力,以及他们对工作环境的偏好或“需求”成为一项新工作。类似的组织也有工作环境或“供应”以向工人提供服务,以及员工的工作要求或“需求”。当工人的供应符合组织的需求时,就会发生一场比赛,工人的需求与组织的供应相匹配。
The dominant paradigm in the literature on personality and job preferences comes from the program of research on the realistic-investigative-artistic-social-enterprising-conventional (RIASEC) circumplex. The basic propositions of the RIASEC model are that there are stable differences in preferences and abilities related to work characteristics, and that individuals who are in jobs that match their preferences will be more satisfied. Job preferences using the RIASEC model are measured by having individuals read descriptions of major job tasks from a variety of occupations and indicate which sound appealing to them and which they can do well. Each individual is given a profile consisting of his or her most suitable occupational types. Basic definitions for tasks found under each of the six types are as follows:
- 实际的:进行体育活动,包括使用机器,对象或相关工具
- Investigative:解决问题,收集信息,分析数据以及其他与科学或研究有关的活动
- 艺术的: creating new ideas, using creativity, and producing innovative solutions
- 社会的:与他人紧密合作,为客户,客户或患者提供信息,协作或直接提供帮助
- Enterprising:说服他人,领导团体和管理组织资源
- Conventional: completing detail-oriented tasks with a clear system for evaluating outcomes, or with directions provided by others
工作要求这些活动中的每一个。例如,作为工业/组织心理学家的工作在调查方面最高,而作为业务主管的工作在进取的方面最高。职业顾问经常使用RIASEC库存作为帮助求职者的工具。
RIASEC类型随着时间的推移而稳定,并且与其他人格措施有关。高等艺术和调查兴趣的个人往往在经验方面也很高。富有进取心和社会利益的个人往往更加外向。尽职尽责,同意和情感稳定与任何RIASEC维度的关系更加脆弱。尽管部分与个性重叠,但RIASEC维度是工作选择的出色预测指标。例如,尽管从学校毕业时评分时的RIASEC维度一直可以预测一项研究中相应工作的就业(例如,现实的个体倾向于在现实主义中保持更高的工作),但五因素模型的其他元素几乎没有解释的工作差异。考虑到RIASEC分数后的选择。
Although the RIASEC model has investigated fit between job seekers and work characteristics, other research has investigated the fit between job seekers and organizational culture. Much of the research on organizational culture and fit has been assessed through the use of a forced-distribution preference inventory called the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP). Job seekers are asked to rank potential organizational attributes on a list from most preferred to least preferred, and then individuals familiar with the organization sort these same attributes from most descriptive of the organization’s culture to least descriptive of the organization’s culture. A match occurs when the job seeker’s desired culture is commensurate with the organization’s extant culture. Research across several studies has shown that even after statistically controlling for attractiveness of job attributes, a match between individual preferences and organizational culture predicts job choice intentions.
将所有内容放在一起:决策过程研究
目前,很少有研究涉及个人做出工作选择决策的过程,但是确实存在的研究为个人评估每项工作的证据的方式提供了一些见解。与关于说服和决策的文献一致,这里的重点是个人求职者如何相信工作具有某些属性以及他们如何评估信息来源的相关性不同。
图像理论的标题研究过程中对决策过程的研究表明,考虑所有可能的替代方案并不是认知上有效的。取而代之的是,决策者可能会对期权进行多个阶段评估。第一阶段是一个筛选过程,其中决策者迅速通过替代方案的关键特征进行扫描,并消除那些无法满足某些最低标准的人。筛选选项后,第二阶段是从剩下的选项中选择最有吸引力的选项。选择过程更加审议,并需要更典型的预期配方的许多要素。图像理论的另一个重要组成部分是,决策者大部分时间都不会考虑自己的选择,而是通过遵循认知文字而出于习惯。这意味着许多人没有对所有可用工作做出常规选择,而是仅根据他们最熟悉的选择来考虑工作。
One conclusion that can be reached is that individuals place a heavy weight on negative information in the recruiting process. In general, signs of trouble or difficulty regarding a potential job have a stronger impact on job-seeker attitudes toward an organization than does positive information about a job. The tendency for job seekers to prefer a job presented primarily in positive terms to a job presented in partially negative terms is a potential avenue for investigation of mood in job choice, although there is not a great deal of evidence on this proposition. The differential weighting of negative and positive job elements, and aversion to taking an option with negative characteristics, is consistent with prospect theory.
Another important component of the job choice process is the development of inferences regarding an organization’s policies and practices from distal sources of information. It has been noted previously that many individuals draw inferences regarding an organization’s policies and practices from discussions with family and friends. Without these interpersonal contacts, applicants try to draw inferences from their interactions with individuals they encounter during the recruiting and hiring process. Many of the key findings are consistent with the literature on persuasion. Applicants generally make more positive inferences about an organization when the messages are delivered by a sympathetic or attractive recruiter who provides a positive message in an informal tone. Other studies have shown that interviewers who make use of marketing and sales skills are more effective.
决策过程研究确实表明,招聘人员特征会影响组织的推论,但是几乎所有研究表明,工作属性对工作接受的可能性比招聘活动具有更大的影响。结果通常表明,招聘活动仅在最初的访谈阶段与反应显着相关。另一方面,工作属性是所有后续阶段反应的重要预测指标。这些结果表明,除非将面试官的特征转化为对工作特征的感知,否则工作选择的重要性对于员工来说太大了,无法简单地基于进行面试的人做出决定。当可行的说服文献一致时,这种使用理性方法来进行重要决策的趋势。但是,组织努力产生的情感语调也可能以尚未调查的方式影响工作选择。
概括
关于工作选择的研究为个人如何选择特定组织作为其工作地点提供了一个独特的窗口。工作选择研究的关键过程包括搜索工作替代方案,对工作属性的评估以及最终选择过程。对于试图选择理想工作的个人以及试图设计信息将吸引适当的求职者受众的组织,将使用进一步了解工作选择过程。
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