The Unhiring Dilemma: Effects of Job Delays, Job Rescissions, and Compensation on Organizational Attractiveness and Justice Judgments

Abstract

A relatively new phenomenon in recruitment and selection is the unhiring dilemma: New hires who were promised employment after graduation but now find their job offers rescinded or delayed. In study 1, we use a scenario context to examine how job rescissions and delays, along with four different compensation alternatives, influence new hire judgments of organizational attractiveness and organizational justice. We find that for those whose jobs were delayed, compensation structures that provide increasingly favorable outcomes are viewed more positively, but for those whose jobs were rescinded, the most favorable evaluations occurred upon receipt of lump sum compensation - in other words, the compensation outcome that also immediately severs the relationship between the rebuffed new hire and the company. In Study 2, we interviewed a small sample of MBA graduates who had job offers rescinded or delayed. Here, we find additional evidence or linear effects in that more positive unhiring outcomes (e.g., job delays or rescissions with compensation) lead to enhanced organizational attractiveness and procedural justice judgments.