Hiring in the Post-Reengineering Environment: A Study Using Situationally Conditioned Belief

Abstract

In today’s post-reengineering environment, jobs are often more complex on both operational and managerial levels. Employees must possess a greater range of skills and are often given more autonomy in decision making. Employers seeking to address the increased risks in hiring for these positions may seek more information about job candidates. Information technology can be used to create an infrastructure that supports greater access to employee information. Attitudes on the part of employers and job candidates must be studied before building infrastructures to support the hiring process. Hypotheses are presented to support exploration of these issues. A study using situationally conditioned belief (SCB) was conducted. Results indicate that employers are seeking more sensitive information about job candidates, especially for managerial jobs, that managerial candidates are willing to provide more sensitive information, and that a significant gap exists for both operational and managerial candidates between the amount of information candidates are willing to reveal and the amount of information desired by employers.