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Should you follow your gut? The impact of expertise on intuitive hiring decisions for complex jobs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2021

Vinod U. Vincent Open the ORCID record for Vinod U. Vincent [Opens in a new window] ,
Rebecca M. Guidice  and
Neal P. Mero
Vinod U. Vincent*
Affiliation:
College of Business, Clayton State University, 2000 Clayton State Blvd., Morrow, GA30260, USA
Rebecca M. Guidice
Affiliation:
Cameron School of Business, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, NC28403, USA
Neal P. Mero
Affiliation:
School of Business Administration, Stetson University, 421 Woodland Blvd., Unit 8398, Deland, FL32723, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Vinod U. Vincent, E-mail: VinodVincent@clayton.edu
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Abstract

As jobs become increasingly complex, organizations are challenged with finding effective ways to select and hire successful employees. The high level of uncertainty generally associated with hiring decisions is greater for complex jobs where it is difficult to identify the predictors of good job performance. Intuition research has found expert intuition to be effective in highly uncertain decision environments. However, most employment selection research dismisses the use of intuition and argues that even expert interviewers should not rely on their intuition. To bridge the two research streams, this paper addresses the research question: for complex jobs, can the intuition of expert decision-makers enhance the effectiveness of hiring decisions? The hypotheses were tested via an experimental study design using expert and nonexpert interviewer samples. The results demonstrate that, when recruiting for complex jobs, interviewer expertise does increase the quality of intuitive hiring decisions.

Keywords

Complex jobsemployee selectionexpertiseintuitionmanagerial cognition
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , First View , pp. 1 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2021

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