Increasing systematicity leads to better selection decisions: Evidence from a computer paradigm for evaluating selection tools

A computerized paradigm was created to allow for testing in the laboratory whether increasing systematicity helps the recruiter make better selection decisions. Participants were introduced to the job and the applicants on the computer screen and asked to select who they thought should be considered for the job and who should not. Level of systematicity, i.e. the extent to which the recruitment is methodical and uses prepared tools, was manipulated between subjects. Depending on experimental condition participants were helped by means of a tool for extracting judgment criteria (job analysis) and a tool for making judgments related to selected criteria (including calculation of a final score). The general prediction that increased systematicity leads to the selection of more qualified candidates was supported by the results, particularly when the motivation to put time and effort into the task was higher. The results support the claim from Industrial/Organizational psychologists that systematicity is a desirable characteristic in selection processes. The fact that increasing systematicity led to better selection decisions in a controlled laboratory experiment, along with process-related measures, suggests that this kind of paradigm could be useful when evaluating new tools for improving selection decisions, before they are tested in large (and costly) field studies of actual personnel selection.