The effects of expectancy in personality judgment through the interviewing process

Abstract

The role of expectancy is to facilitate information processing, helping individuals see and understand the world around them (Roese & Sherman, 2007). It uses information already held by an individual to help him or her understand and then act in an efficient way. This can have an effect on how we view other people, an important aspect in rating people’s personality, especially in an interview setting. This study attempts to discover if the effects of expectancy can influence how an interviewer views and then rates the personality of a candidate during a job interview. This research is of importance as it shows how this phenomenon might be present in personnel selection. 21 follow-up interviews were undertaken by a group of interviewers from a selected recruitment agency. Two interviewers conducted each interview; one had access to the candidate’s profile and the original interviewer’s personality rating, while the other had access only to the candidate’s Curriculum Vitae. Interviewers then rated the candidate’s personality using an adapted HEXACO personality scale. Results showed that potential expectancy could be taking effect as the interviewer with full access rated the candidate in the same way as the original interviewer did. However, the results were also similar between both interviewers in the follow-up interviews, thus deeming it inconclusive evidence towards expectancy.