Lee, Sun Young;
Dietz, Bart;
(2025)
Beyond Pay: The Effects of Interviewers' Emphasis on Pay and Career Growth on Attracting Highly Qualified Applicants.
International Journal of Selection and Assessment
, 33
(4)
, Article e70033. 10.1111/ijsa.70033.
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Abstract
The challenge of attracting highly qualified workers is a growing concern for organizations. From a strategic communication perspective, emphasizing competitive pay has been regarded as essential for attracting highly qualified job applicants. However, little research has examined whether interviewers' strategic emphasis on pay is effective in attracting highly qualified applicants compared to less qualified ones. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of interviewers' emphasis on pay in attracting highly qualified applicants and explore an alternative reward that may be more appealing when emphasized during interviews. Across four studies involving 1016 participants, we find that while competitive pay is frequently highlighted during job interviews, such emphasis tended to attract less qualified applicants than highly qualified ones. In contrast, when interviewers emphasize career growth potential regarding a job, highly qualified applicants are more attracted compared to their less qualified counterparts. We conclude by discussing theoretical and practical implications.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Beyond Pay: The Effects of Interviewers' Emphasis on Pay and Career Growth on Attracting Highly Qualified Applicants |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/ijsa.70033 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsa.70033 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2025 The Author(s). International Journal of Selection and Assessment published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | applicant quality, career growth emphasis, interviewer impression management, pay emphasis, recruitment communication strategy |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > UCL School of Management |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10216694 |
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