Field study investigation of applicant use of influence tactics in a selection interview.

Full Abstract

Employees often evaluate leadership potential when selecting applicants for jobs that require leadership ability (e.g., supervisors, firefighter captains). Research has shown that influencing others is an important part of being an effective leader, yet employers rarely explicitly consider applicants' use of influence tactics when evaluating applicants' leadership potential. The purpose of this study was to explore applicant use of influence tactics in an employment interview and to determine how such use relates to interview ratings. The authors observed firefighter applicants' behavior during a selection role-play interview and recorded their use of influence tactics. Results indicated that firefighter applicants used soft tactics (e.g., ingratiation, rational persuasion) significantly more frequently than they used hard tactics (e.g., pressure, coalition). Soft tactic use was positively correlated with interview ratings.

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Author information

Author/s: McFarland, Lynn A (LA); Ryan, Ann Marie (AM); Kriska, S David (SD);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA. LMCFARLA(-atsign-)gmu.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: The Journal of psychology (J Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Jul; vol 136 (issue 4) : pp 383-98

Dates: Created 2002/09/16; Completed 2003/02/04; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 12230141, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Analysis of Variance
Humans
Interviews as Topic - methods
Leadership
Male

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