Examining the Relationship between Applicant Reactions and Selection Test Performance: Is the Relationship Curvilinear?

There is evidence in the literature that negative reactions to employee selection procedures such as high anxiety and low motivation are related to poor performance by job applicants on a selection test (McCarthy, Van Iddekinge, Lievens, Kung, Sinar, Campion, 2013). However, to date the studies examining this relationship were correlational, meaning that no causal relationship could be established. This implies that while it is possible that negative reactions predict low test performance, it is also plausible that the reverse is true (i.e., poor performance at the early stages of a selection test leads to high anxiety and low motivation) or a third variable is responsible for the observed relationship. In addition, there is evidence that the relationship between stress and performance is not linear but in the shape of an inverse U (Muse, Harris, & Field, 2003; Srivastava & Krishna, 1991), suggesting that extremely negative and extremely positive reactions lead to lower levels of performance while test performance is maximized at moderate levels of positive or negative reactions Accordingly, the proposed study will examine the relationship between applicant anxiety and performance on a selection test. We hypothesize that there will be a curvilinear relationship between applicant anxiety and performance that is mediated by self-regulatory processing and off-task cognition. In order to establish causality, an experimental design will be utilized such that the level of anxiety participants face during the study will be manipulated through tailored instructions designed to evoke different levels of stress. After manipulating anxiety, participants will then complete a selection test. Random assignment to these anxiety conditions and a low level of test difficulty will ensure that the level of ability and self-efficacy on the task will be controlled for. The results of this study will allow for a more robust test of the relationship between applicant anxiety during selection procedures and test performance, and hence provide theoretical and practical implications for staffing researchers and practitioners