Organizational attractiveness for prospective applicants: A person-organisation fit perspective

• Main Authors: LIEVENS, Filip, DECAESTEKER, Christoph, COETSIER, Pol, GEIMAERT, Jo
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2001
• Subjects: Human Resources Management; Organizational Behavior and Theory
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5655; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/6654/viewcontent/pofit.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This study investigates which of four objective organisational characteristics determine the attractiveness of organisations for prospective applicants and the degree to which the Big Five personality factors moderate the effects of some of these organisational attributes. To this end, 359 final-year students (engineering and business majors, 71% men, mean age = 22.4 years) read short descriptions of organisations. These descriptions varied on four organisational characteristics (i.e. organisation size, level of internationalisation, pay mix, and level of centralisation). The students had to indicate their attraction to the organisation. Additionally, they provided self-ratings on a personality inventory. The results show that prospective applicants are more attracted to large-sized, medium-sized, decentralised, and multinational organisations. Next, the results indicate that several personality characteristics moderate the effects of organisational characteristics on attractiveness. For instance, the factor conscientiousness moderates the effect of organisational size, with subjects high on conscientiousness being more attracted to large-sized organisations. The factor openness/intellect moderates the effect of internationalisation, with subjects high on openness/intellect being more attracted to multinational organisations.