The Effect of Job Previews on Role Clarity and Unmet Expectation: A Scenario-Based Quasi-Experimental Study

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(1)The Effect of Job Previews on Role Clarity and Unmet Expectation: A Scenario-Based Quasi-Experimental Study. by Tsung-Ru Wu. A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Major: International Human Resource Development. Advisor: Chu-Chen Yeh, Ph. D.. National Taiwan Normal University Taipei, Taiwan August 2017.

(2) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to show my gratitude to those who gave me a helping hand on my way to complete the thesis. Without your support, it was impossible for me to finish this research on time. To my dear advisor, Dr. Yeh, thank you for guiding and teaching me during the past two years, you not only played a role as a lighthouse leading me to complete my research but also taught me right attitude toward life and shared experiences in workplace. Even though you encountered some difficulty in your life, you still took responsibility for guiding me and each of your advisees. I really appreciate everything you have done for me and I did learn a lot from you. Thank you! To dear Dr. Chang, thank you for reviewing my thesis and guiding me before and after the defense meeting. It was my pleasure to be your temporary advisee and I really appreciate your help at that time. To my dear classmates in this program, it was absolutely an unforgettable twoyear journey with each of you. I would like to thank you all for helping me during the process of doing my research. Phil, thank you for teaching and advising me whenever I confronted obstacles in my research life; Derrick, thank you for lending me your laptop to write my thesis; Chloe, Fan, Lynn, Sandy, Shanglin, and Zping, thank you for volunteering to be actor and actresses for my job preview video. Without your kindly help, I would not be able to finish my research. Lastly, I would like to thank my family especially my parents, without your support and encouragement in my life, I could not set a milestone here in NTNU. Words are not enough to express my gratitude..

(3) ABSTRACT. High turnover rate among employees in young generation and fresh graduates has been a continuous problem in job market. In order to prevent the long lasting problem, recruiters are considering recruiting better matched employees instead of attracting a lot of people to apply for the job. Before offering a job, recruiters provide a job preview for applicants which enables them to evaluate if the job does match their expectation and interest. In current study, there were five hypotheses proposed. Firstly, realistic job previews (RJPs) have a stronger effect on increasing individuals’ perception of unmet expectation and role clarity than traditional job previews (TJPs) do. Secondly, job preview has a positive effect on unmet expectations during pre-hire phase. Thirdly, job preview has a positive effect on role clarity during pre-hire phase. Fourthly, role clarity has a negative effect on unmet expectation. Lastly, role clarity mediates the relationship between job preview and unmet expectation. A quantitative study was conducted through a scenario-based quasi-experimental approach. The participants of the study were either students about to enter job market or current employees. There were 298 valid responses in the study. By presenting RJP video and TJP video to participants and comparing differences between responses in pre-test and post-test, it was found that both job preview videos increased role clarity and unmet expectation, and that role clarity had a negative effect on unmet expectation, although there was no mediating effect of role clarity between job preview and unmet expectation. No significant differences between RJPs and TJPs were found on their effect of increasing unmet expectation and role clarity.. Keywords: realistic job preview, traditional job preview, unmet expectations, role clarity. I.

(4) TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... I TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................ II LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................ IV LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................... VI CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ...................................................................1 Background of the Study .................................................................................................. 1 Problem Statement ........................................................................................................... 3 Research Purpose ............................................................................................................. 4 Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 4 Scope of the Study............................................................................................................ 5 Definition of Key Terms .................................................................................................. 5. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................8 Job Preview ...................................................................................................................... 8 Unmet Expectations ....................................................................................................... 14 Role Clarity .................................................................................................................... 15. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY .............................................................19 Research Framework ...................................................................................................... 19 Research Hypotheses...................................................................................................... 20 Research Procedure ........................................................................................................ 20 Research Design ............................................................................................................. 21 Instrument....................................................................................................................... 24 Measurement .................................................................................................................. 26 Reliability and Validity .................................................................................................. 28. CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ................................38 Pearson’s Correlation Analysis ...................................................................................... 38 T-test Analysis................................................................................................................ 36 Path Analysis .................................................................................................................. 38 II.

(5) Sobel Test ....................................................................................................................... 40 Summary of Analyses Results ....................................................................................... 40. CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ...........................43 Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 43 Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 44 Research Implications .................................................................................................... 45 Practical Implications ..................................................................................................... 47 Limitations ..................................................................................................................... 48 Suggestions for Future Research .................................................................................... 49. REFERENCES...............................................................................................50 APPENDIX A: ENGLISH COVER LETTER ..............................................60 APPENDIX B: ENGLISH QUESTIONNAIRE............................................61 APPENDIX C: CHINESE COVER LETTER...............................................65 APPENDIX D: CHINESE QUESTIONNAIRE............................................66 APPENDIX E: JOB PREVIEW VIDEOS OUTLINE ..................................70. III.

(6) LIST OF TABLES. Table 3.1. Descriptive Statistics of the Sample............................................................... 23 Table 3.2. Comparison between RJP Video and TJP Video ............................................ 25 Table 3.3. EFA Result: Rotated Component Matrix for Job Attraction (pre-test) and Role Clarity (pre-test) (n=298) ...................................................................... 29 Table 3.4. EFA Result: Rotated Component Matrix for Job Attraction (post-test), Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy, and Role Clarity(post-test) (n=298) 30 Table 3.5. Summary of Goodness of Fit Criteria ............................................................ 32 Table 3.6. Model Fit Summary of Pre-Test ..................................................................... 34 Table 3.7. Model Fit Summary of Post-Test ................................................................... 34 Table 3.8. Summary of Average Variance Extracted (AVE) and Composite Reliability (CR) in Pre-Test ............................................................................................. 34 Table 3.9. Summary of Average Variance Extracted (AVE) and Composite Reliability (CR) in Post-Test............................................................................................ 35 Table 3.10. Cronbach’s Alpha of Research Variables (n=298) ....................................... 37 Table 4.1. Means, Standard Deviations, Correlations and Reliability (n=298) .............. 35 Table 4.2. Results of Independent-Samples T-test for Role Clarity, Job Attraction, and Unmet Expectation in RJP and TJP (n=298) ................................................. 36 Table 4.3. Results of Paired-Samples T-test for Role Clarity and Attraction in Pre-test and Post-test in RJP Group (n=148) .............................................................. 37 Table 4.4. Results of Paired-Samples T-test for Role Clarity and Attraction in Pre-test and Post-test in TJP Group (n=150) ............................................................... 38 Table 4.5. Model Fit Summary ....................................................................................... 39 Table 4.6. Standardized Coefficient and T-values of Structural Equation Modeling ..... 40 IV.

(7) Table 4.7.. Hypothesis Testing Results Summary ............................................................ 42. V.

(8) LIST OF FIGURES. Figure 3.1.. Research framework ..................................................................................... 19. Figure 3.2.. Research procedure ...................................................................................... 21. Figure 3.3. Measurement model of job attraction (pre-test), and role clarity (pre-test)..35 Figure 3.4.. Measurement model of job attraction (post-test), role clarity (post-test) and career decision-making self-efficacy .................................................... 36. Figure 4.1.. Path model of RJP, role clarity and unmet expectation ................................ 39. VI.

(9) CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. In this chapter, brief introduction of the research is presented. In the beginning, background of the study is discussed, and followed by problem statement, research purpose, research questions, and scope of the study as well. At last, definitions of key terms in the study are introduced in the end of the chapter.. Background of the Study. According to the survey from job bank of Taiwan in 2011, 15% of the fresh graduates left their first jobs within three months (Li, 2011). Another statistical survey conducted by manpower bank in August of 2016 even showed that 61.8% of fresh graduates and those who finished military service did not have a job (Yes123 Job Bank, 2016); along with the statistical result indicated that 20.7% of the working fresh graduates had intentions to leave their current jobs within the first half year. As for the United States, one survey reveals that 42% of employees born between 1980 and 2000, who were so-called Millennials or Generation Y, changed the job every one to three years (Chen, 2016). From the information shown by the government as well as the man power banks in Taiwan and the United States, problems of high turnover and transfer rate in job market still exist, especially within the young generations. As a result, it should be an important issue for employer to consider that an objective of recruiting is not to hire lots of new employees, but to recruit suitable people into the organization. In other words, the best way of recruiting is finding the right person to match the job vacancy in order to lower the turnover rate afterward. According to Barber (1998), there are three stages of recruitment, including generating applicants, maintaining applicants’ interest, and influencing applicants’ job choice decision. 1.

(10) From the proposed theory, it is believed that companies attractive to job applicants are able to conduct recruitment more successfully, and organizational attractiveness is one of the main factors that affects individuals’ decision on pursuing the certain job. One way recruiters can adopt to attract job applicants is to providing job preview for them because it addresses job applicants’ most highly valued work needs in the organization (Gaugler & Thornton III, 1990). Job preview is usually given before a job offer has been made and should allow prospective employees to make decisions whether they are going to continue the application process (Larson & Hewitt, 2005). Many previous studies had suggested that traditional job preview (TJP), which only provides job applicants with positive aspects of a job (Wanous, 1973), would be more attractive to job applicants because it only reveals positive aspects of the future job instead of negative information that tends to reduce organizational attraction to job applicants (Bretz & Judge, 1998). Nevertheless, individuals may face “reality shock” once they enter the organization without enough accurate information and have unrealistically high expectations; consequently, as they experience reality shock, they would be more likely to feel unsatisfied with the job which leads to turnover (Miceli, 1985). As the phenomena of high job transfer rate among young generations, it is needed for companies to find out a solution to recruit employees and prevent the situations of new hires’ quitting from the position. As previous researchers implied (Wanous, 1973; Premack & Wanous, 1985; Meglino, DeNisi, Youngblood, & Williams, 1988), realistic job preview (RJP) is an effective recruiting technique to lower employees’ turnover rate and increase their job survival rate. The meta-analytic research conducted by Meglino, Ravlin, and DeNisi (2001) concluded that RJP affects the subsequent turnover because it provides job applicants a better insight of a certain position and it enables them to self-select out of the job because individuals are able to make decisions based on accurate information they receive from an RJP. Also, it was found that if a person received an RJP before entering an organization, it was believed that 2.

(11) it could help increase his or her perception of role clarity in that position (Saks & Cronshaw, 1990), which might subsequently influence later job performance, satisfaction, and survival rate. In order to reduce young generations’ transfer rate and turnover in Taiwan, what companies need to concern now is how to prevent the situation in advance. From the information and literature above, it is obviously better for individuals to encounter “reality shock” before they enter the organization instead of experiencing it afterwards with increasing role clarity in the job. In other words, even though RJPs may decrease job acceptance rate among job applicants, it optimizes the function of self-selection when individuals are looking for a job as they face unmet expectations earlier during the recruitment process other than experiencing them after being hired, and understand themselves better through the information provided from the preview during the recruitment phase.. Problem Statement According to statistical survey from manpower bank, high turnover rate among fresh graduates has been a problem for years. From one survey conducted in 2010 by a manpower bank in Taiwan, 45.4% of fresh graduates left their job within three months and 20.7% of this group of people resigned from their job because work content was different from their interests (104 Job Bank, 2010). Furthermore, for fresh graduates still staying on the job, over 70% of them had intention to quit his or her job and 30.3% indicated that there was a gap between reality and initial expectation. Even though there are still some other reasons leading to the current phenomena such as fresh graduates’ mental stability and social experiences, undoubtedly unmet expectation is one of the crucial factors affecting employees’ turnover. In regard to unmet expectation, previous study have convey that mechanism of selfselection from RJPs resulted in lower job acceptance intention than TJPs as job seekers have 3.

(12) been exposed to unmet expectation before they are recruited (Saks, Wiesner, & Sumers, 1994). Although a company may be successful during the recruiting stage, problems of turnover may emerge after a period of time since employees may experience the expectation gap after they enter the organization. As a result, it is concerned whether an individual is able to clarify the role of the job and avoid drop out from the organization due to high unmet expectation after they are hired.. Research Purpose The present study aims to investigate the differences between the so called “Realistic Job Preview (RJP)” and Traditional Job Preview (TJP) on individuals’ perception of role clarity and unmet expectation. As previous survey implied that unmet expectation on the job is one of the reasons which results in high turnover rate among fresh graduates in Taiwan (104 Job Bank, 2010), the researcher would like to examine whether RJPs enable job applicants to experience unmet expectations better than those who are exposed to TJPs during the recruiting phase in order to reduce the problem of turnover afterwards. Furthermore, individuals’ understanding of role clarity is another issue the current study would like to investigate since it is also an important factor affecting individuals’ later performance on the job. As a result, the main purposes of the present study are to compare the effectiveness of RJPs and TJPs on individuals’ perception of unmet expectation and role clarity.. Research Questions Based on the problems stated and the purposes proposed by the researcher in the present study, the research questions are further proposed as following: 4.

(13) 1. Does job preview effectively lead individuals to experience unmet expectation before entering an organization? 2. Does job preview effectively lead individuals to increase perception of role clarity before entering an organization? 3. Does realistic job preview (RJP) lead individuals to experience more unmet expectations than traditional job preview (TJP)? 4. Does realistic job preview (RJP) lead individuals to understand the role on a job than traditional job preview (TJP)?. Scope of the Study As the present research aims to examine the issue of job market in Taiwan, the sample population targets either students who are going to enter job market or people with a few years of working experiences. Due to limited accessibility, the current study only investigates the individuals’ perception of role clarity and the relationship between job previews, and unmet expectation by an experimental design. The issues related to the post-hire phase, such as turnover which individuals encounter after they are hired, is not included in this study. As for the data collection, the researcher distributed the questionnaire through online methods, and the researcher collected 298 valid responses. Because the research was conducted through an experimental approach, there were pre-test and post-test of questionnaire for participants in order to examine the differential effect of job previews.. Definition of Key Terms Realistic Job Preview Realistic job preview (RJP) is defined as a technique for recruiters to provide job 5.

(14) applicants with an accurate image of the certain position which allows applicants to make decision of whether to accept the position depending on the job information they receive (Larson & Hewitt, 2005). An RJP includes both positive and negative information of a job and because of this kind of characteristic, an RJP lead those job applicants to self-select into or out of the organization. In the present study, RJP was presented through an edited job preview video for participants which illustrated the detail information of the job to which they were exposed and it included both positive and negative aspects of the position.. Traditional Job Preview Traditional job preview (TJP) is defined as unrealistic job previews since they mainly present positive aspects of a job (Wanous, 1973). Besides, TJP is also defined as “favorable job preview (Reilly, Tenopyr, & Sperling, 1979),” or “enhancement job preview” which is designed to dispel applicants’ negative impressions of the job (Meglino, DeNisi, Youngblood, & Williams, 1988). In the present study, TJP was presented through an edited job preview video for participants which illustrated the detail information of the job to which they are exposed. TJP presented in the present study only revealed positive information of the job.. Unmet Expectation Unmet expectation refers to the differences between initial expectations and actual experiences on the job (Ross & Zander, 1957; Katzell, 1968; Dunnette, Arvey, & Banas, 1973). In the present study, unmet expectation is utilized by comparing the change of individuals’ perceptions of job attraction before and after reviewing a job preview video.. Role Clarity Role clarity refers to the presence of adequate role-relevant information due to variations 6.

(15) of the quality of the information. Also, role clarity could refer to an individual’s feeling of having much role-relevant information as the person would like to have (Lyons, 1971). In the present study, role clarity refers to individuals’ understanding of job role and responsibilities of marketing specialist in the provided job preview video.. 7.

(16) CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW. In this chapter, variables for the research framework are reviewed from several literatures. First, realistic job preview, which is the major issue of the research, is introduced as well as traditional job preview. Secondly, unmet expectation is discussed, followed by role clarity and the hypotheses are addressed in the end of the chapter.. Job Preview The first phase of organizational entry starts from individuals’ initial contact with the organization to the offer of a position (Steers, 1981; Wanous, 1980), and previous researcher had proposed that realism of job preview information during this period is an important factor affecting a job applicant’s attraction toward an organization as it functions as an inoculation (Gaugler & Thornton III, 1990); moreover, a job preview is suggested to address job applicants’ most highly valued work needs in the organization (Gaugler & Thornton III, 1990). Job preview is usually categorized into two different types: realistic job preview (RJP) and traditional job preview (TJP), which will be introduced in the following section.. Realistic Job Preview The first study related to realistic job preview (RJP) was reported by Weitz in 1956 as realistic information provided for applicants of life insurance agents. In 1973, Wanous coined the term realistic job preview in order to apply this technique, and after this term was introduced, many researchers also started to investigate studies on this field. RJP is defined as a technique for recruiters to provide job applicants with an accurate image of the certain position which could allow applicants to make decision whether they do 8.

(17) want to accept the position depending on the job information they receive (Larson & Hewitt, 2005). An RJP includes both positive and negative information of a job and because of this kind of characteristic, an RJP lead those job applicants to self-select into or out of the organization. To implement RJPs, job applicants are given a “vaccination” by recruiters through verbal explanation, written information, or videotaped job previews to see the actual job contents of the position (Heneman III, Judge, & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2015). Larson and. Hewitt (2005). concluded several ways of presenting RJPs to job applicants, including meetings with current workers, pre-application screening, videotapes, booklets or brochures, web-based multimedia, group RJP, and internships or volunteer programs. All of the method of RJPs are currently conducted by recruiters in organizations in recruiting processes.. Characteristics of realistic job preview. Heneman III et al. (2015) suggested that research conducting the effectiveness of RJP had proved that it somewhat increased job satisfaction and lowered turnover owing to the fact that job applicants provided with realistic expectations about future job characteristics tended to deal with certain jobs better after they were hired. On top of that, Heneman III et al. (2015) also provided the following conclusions according to a review of 40 studies on the effectiveness of RJPs: . RJPs presented very early in the recruitment process are less effective in reducing post-hire turnover than those presented just before or just after hiring.. . Post-hire RJPs lead to higher levels of job performance than do RJPs presented before hiring.. . Verbal RJPs tend to reduce turnover more than written or videotaped RJPs.. . RJPs are less likely to lead to turnover when the organization “restricts” turnover for 9.

(18) a period of time after the RJPs (with contracts, above-market salaries etc.). (p. 224) From the suggestions of the previous studies, it is obvious that the function of RJPs are mainly focusing on reducing applicants’ turnover as well as increasing their job satisfaction.. Realistic job preview and job satisfaction. There have been a lot of studies digging into the research of RJP and explored the relation between RJPs and job satisfaction. Some of the previous reviews suggested that RJPs could slightly increase employees’ job satisfaction and performance as well (Premack & Wanous, 1985; Heneman III et al., 2015), but some instead didn’t support this conclusion (Dugoni & Ilgen, 1981). According to a field experiment conducted by Suszko and Breaugh (1986), two groups of subjects had different responses to the satisfaction of their job, and subjects receiving RJPs had higher job satisfaction than those who didn’t receive RJPs. From these reviews above, it is believed that RJPs in some cases could lead employees to be more satisfied with their jobs as it lowers initial expectations which subsequently affect their job performance as well as job satisfaction.. Realistic job preview and turnover. In addition to job satisfaction, turnover is also one important factor affected by RJPs. As mentioned above, the first study related to RJP was conducted by Weitz in 1956 with conclusion that realistic concept of a job given to prospective employees could reduce their termination rate. Many of the following studies aimed at investigating the function of RJPs on subjects’ turnover rate and suggested that effective RJPs could improve employees’ turnover rate and increase job survival rate (Wanous, 1973; Premack & Wanous, 1985; Meglino, DeNisi, Youngblood, & Williams, 1988; Meglino et al., 2001). In the literature of meta-analyses, Meglino et al. (2001) concluded the mechanisms of RJPs which affected turnover as following: 10.

(19) self-selection, freedom of choice, expectations, work of worry, trust and honesty, and ambiguity. For the mechanism of self-selection, as RJPs provide a more accurate picture of a certain position, they tend to reduce employees’ turnover by providing a better match for an individual and the job (Wanous, 1980, 1992). In addition, Wanous (1980, 1992) implied that new recruits tend to have inflated expectations about a new job in some aspects. As a result, once they encounter the unpleasant job, they will have a higher tendency to leave (Meflino, 1979). On the contrary, if job applicants are given more realistic information about the job beforehand, they will have less inflated expectation on positive aspects which may not occur while ideas about the negative aspects will have already been in their mind (Locke, 1976); consequently, job applicants will have lower turnover intention after entering the organization. These mechanisms represent the function of RJPs which lead to the reduction of turnover rate.. Traditional Job Preview As described above, several studies examined the effect of RJPs by comparing them with traditional job previews (TJPs). Traditional job previews were defined as unrealistic job previews by Wanous (1973) since they mainly presented positive aspects of a job. Besides, TJPs were also defined as “favorable job preview (Reilly et al., 1979),” or “enhancement job preview” which was designed to dispel applicants’ negative impressions of the job (Meglino et al., 1988). In recent years, some researchers categorized TJPs as “positive recruitment message” because they overly emphasized positive features of the job (Thorsteinson, Palmer, Wulff, & Anderson, 2004). In addition, Heneman III et al. (2015) used the term “employment brand message” to represent the characteristics of TJPs, as the information conveyed in a TJP is as following: “An appealing description is developed based on marketing principles, emphasizing unique features of the organization (Heneman III et al., 2015, p.227).”. 11.

(20) Comparing Realistic and Traditional Job Previews Previous studies differentiated TJPs from RJPs as TJPs present more information about the relatedness need of job applicants while RJPs focus more on the growth need. Another major difference is that TJPs only describe the positive features of a certain job; on the contrary, RJPs are designed to present both positive and negative aspects of a job (Saks, Wiesner, & Summers, 1994; Saks & Summers, 1996). In early research, researchers used a field experiment in order to examine differences between RJPs and TJPs. In 1973, Wanous tested the effect differences between RJPs and TJPs on newly hired female telephone operators and the results indicated that RJPs lowered new hires’ job expectations, as well as their turnover intention rate; however, as for those new hires, there were no significant differences between the two groups in the research on the result of job acceptance (Wanous, 1973). Another research conducted by Reilly, Tenopyr, and Sperling in 1979 also aimed to compare the differences of effects among RJPs, favorable job previews, and no job previews on subjects’ job acceptance and job survival in the position as telephone operators. Different from the study of Wanous (1973), the job acceptance rates of applicants receiving RJPs were lower than the other two groups in this study; as for the job survival rates, there were no significant differences among the three groups (Reilly, Tenopyr, & Sperling, 1979). In late 80s and early 90s, two more studies about RJPs and TJPs were done by researchers. One of the two used a longitudinal experiment to examine two different RJPs, which were enhancement job preview and reduction job preview in U.S. army (Williams, 1988). In the study, the enhancement job preview referred to overly optimistic preview of the job content, while the reduction job preview was designed to mainly present problems and difficulties in the position. The result of the study indicated that those subjects receiving both enhancement and reduction previews had the lowest turnover, while those who only received reduction 12.

(21) preview had significantly higher turnover. The study concluded that providing both positive and negative aspects of the job is needed (Williams, 1988). The other study conducted by Saks et al. (1994) examined the effects of different job previews on self-selection and job choice. In the study, Saks et al. conducted a simulation research by providing subjects either a one-job preview condition (an RJP or a TJP), or a twojob preview (an RJP and a TJP) to see their attitudes toward the job offers they received. The result revealed that the two-job preview condition showed a significant differences of job acceptance rate; that is, in this group, subjects accepted the job offer of the position presented in TJP condition much better than the one presented in RJP condition. As for one-job preview condition, the group receiving either an RJP or a TJP didn’t show significant differences of job acceptance rate when the job was offered. Two years later, Saks, Wiesner, and Summers (1996) examined the differences between RJPs and TJPs with four-condition-matrix, which combined the two job previews with high and average compensation. The four groups of the study subjects included (1) subjects receiving RJP with high compensation, and TJP with average compensation; (2) subjects receiving RJP with average compensation, and TJP with high compensation; (3) subjects receiving TJP with average compensation, and RJP with average compensation as well, and (4) subjects receiving TJP and RJP both with high compensation. From the four-condition matrix comparison, the results suggested that job applicants perceived job presented with TJPs as more attractive and RJPs as less attractive, and they had higher intention to accept the job presented with TJP except for the only condition when TJP was presented with average compensation while RJP was with high compensation (Saks et al., 1996). In recent years, Thorsteinson, Palmer, Wulff, and Anderson (2004) compared the differences between realistic recruitment messages and positive recruitment messages to examine their effects on organizational attractiveness and the results indicated that the realistic 13.

(22) recruitment messages had better effects on job applicants’ attraction to the organization than positive only messages with the mediated effect of subjects’ perceptions of challenge in the job between the two variables. In sum, from the previous studies provided above, it could be observed that subjects receiving RJPs tended to have lower job acceptance rate compared to those who were given TJPs, which meant that reality shown in the job preview does make job applicants to consider their fit with the job and may retreat from further pursuing the position as some literature had mentioned (Heneman III et al., 2015).. Unmet Expectations According to the previous research conducted, the term, “unmet expectation,” refers to the differences between initial expectations and actual experiences on the job (Ross and Zander, 1957; Katzell, 1968; Dunnette, Arvey, & Banas, 1973). In a study conducted in 1973, it was hypothesized that when an individual’s expectations were not substantially met, his or her propensity to withdraw would increase (Porter & Steers, 1973). Porter and Steers (1973) also suggested that the failure to meet individuals’ expectations on their job would increase their tendencies to both terminate and be absent. Louis (1980) stated that unmet expectations referred to under-met conscious job expectations as several forms of newcomers’ surprise about the job experiences. Another characteristic of unmet expectation was illustrated to lead to dissatisfaction, which resulted in quitting an organization (Wanous, Poland, Premack, & Davis, 1992). Many of previous studies related to unmet expectation investigated the relation between it and job survival (Porter & Steers, 1973; Wanous et al., 1992; Saks, 1994; Robinson, 1996; Turnley & Feldman, 2000). As mentioned above, individuals tended to withdraw or be absent from the job because of disparity between expectations and reality (Porter & Steers, 1973); 14.

(23) another conclusion by Wanous et al. (1992) suggested that RJPs increase job survival because met expectations are the result of RJPs; that is to say, RJPs in a way enable individuals to be exposed to unmet expectation. Saks (1994) suggested that relationship between realism in recruitment source which is also interpreted as information accuracy and job survival is mediated by met expectation. In that study, it was concluded that newcomers receiving matched information of the organization are more likely to have their expectations met (Saks, 1994). Another study found the mediating effect of unmet expectation between psychological contract violations and employees’ intentions to quit which meant unmet expectations after being hired would increase the possibility of turnover (Turnley & Feldman, 2000).. In addition to job survival, relation between unmet expectation and job satisfaction was studied by several researchers as well (Wanous et al., 1992; Moser, 2005; Irving & Montes, 2009; Wang, Sang, Li, & Zhao, 2015). Wanous et al. (1992) suggested whether an individual has met expectations in their job are strongly related to job satisfaction and those who have met expectations tend to be more satisfied with their job. Another study supported the evidence that less unmet expectations lead to higher job satisfaction as unmet expectations mediate internal recruitment sources and job satisfaction (Moser, 2005). Recent studies also aimed to investigate the relation between unmet expectations and job satisfaction and two studies indicated that the less unmet expectations employees perceive, the better they are satisfied with the job (Irving & Montes, 2009; Wang et al., 2015).. Role Clarity There are objective and subjective role clarity definitions. For objective role clarity, it refers to the presence of adequate role-relevant information due to variations of the quality of 15.

(24) the information. On the other hand, subjective role clarity refers to an individual’s feeling of having much role-relevant information as the person would like to have (Lyons, 1971). Previous research about role clarity mainly investigated its relationship with individuals’ job performance, job tension, or furthermore, turnover behavior. For instance, Ivancevich and Donnelly (1974) found out greater role clarity leads to less job tension and more esteem satisfaction. Besides, the study conducted by Miles and Petty also supported the finding that role clarity is related to job satisfaction and is negatively related to job-related tension (Miles & Petty, 1975). A person’s job performance is also another concern that is usually related to role clarity in a position. It was stated that role clarity positively influences work performance as long as individuals acquire enough information about the job (Brown, Ganesan, & Challagalla, 2001) In addition, strong role clarity was found to increase individuals’ self-rated task performance as it mediates the relationship between organizational socialization tactics and task performance (Lapointe, Vandenberghe, & Boudrias, 2014). With the effect of role clarity, another research found that greater role clarity increases work satisfaction and also decreases turnover rates by analyzing 1,699 employees in a state government agency (Hassan, 2013). As for the antecedents of role clarity, previous studies found several factors influencing individuals’ score of role clarity. In Teas, Wacker, and Hughes’ research on salespersons’ perception of performance feedback, participation, role clarity, and job satisfaction, they found that individuals’ feedback from well performance and their involvement in decision making have positive effects on their perception of role clarity in a job (Teas, Wacker, & Hughes, 1979). Another research conducted in 1999 also indicated that an employee’s supervisor’s leadership style plays an important role for increasing each person’s role clarity (Shoemaker, 1999); for example, if a supervisor enables others to act, which meant encouraging employee’s participation, the better chance an individual will have a greater perception of role clarity. As 16.

(25) for the effect of job preview on role clarity, it was stated that effective realistic job preview (RJP) can lead to a higher perception of role clarity and reduce individuals’ intention to drop from the job and also increase their job satisfaction (Saks & Cronshaw, 1990; Khattak, Rehman, & Reman, 2014). As the characteristics of unmet expectations and role clarity are illustrated above, it can be seen that RJPs enable employees to experience reality shock earlier and thus have fair expectations after they are hired (Saks, 1994); it is then hypothesized that job applicants receiving RJPs during recruiting process will develop higher unmet expectations than those who are exposed to TJPs because RJPs provide more realistic information about the job and trigger a reality shock. In other words, RJPs lead individuals to have higher unmet expectations; on the contrary, TJPs bring less effect on individuals’ role clarity and unmet expectations than RJPs do. Thus, the first three hypotheses are proposed as the following. Hypothesis 1a: RJPs have a stronger effect on increasing individuals’ perception of unmet expectation than TJPs do during pre-hire phase. Hypothesis 1b: RJPs have a stronger effect on increasing individuals’ perception of role clarity than TJPs do during pre-hire phase. Hypothesis 2: Job preview has a positive effect on unmet expectations during pre-hire phase. Hypothesis 3: Job preview has a positive effect on role clarity during pre-hire phase. For role clarity and unmet expectation, previous studies stated that role clarity decreases turnover rate while greater unmet expectation increases turnover rate (Hassan, 2013; Wanous et al., 1992). Job preview helps individuals increase their perception of role clarity in pre-hired phase as job applicants receive more information on the job, and role clarity subsequently decreases job applicants’ perception of unmet expectation (Saks, 1994) since the “reality shock” has been reduced by the job preview. From the conclusion of former research, it could be hypothesized that higher role clarity may decrease individual’s unmet expectation which later 17.

(26) on increases turnover rate. As a result, the fourth and fifth hypotheses are proposed as follows. Hypothesis 4: Role clarity has a negative effect on unmet expectation during pre-hire phase. Hypothesis 5: Role clarity mediates the relationship between job preview and unmet expectation.. 18.

(27) CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY. In this chapter, the methods of the research are reviewed as research framework together with hypotheses, procedure, measurement, data analysis as well as demographic variables are presented. At last, reliability and validity are tested in the end of this chapter.. Research Framework Research framework of this study is illustrated in Figure 3.1 below as it demonstrates the relation between variables in the study. The main purpose of the research is to investigate the differences between RJPs and TJPs in terms of their effects on individuals’ unmet expectation in pre-hired phase of recruitment; in addition, the current research also aims to understand the effect of job preview videos on individuals’ perception of role clarity, which may also indirectly and negatively influence their unmet expectation. As a result, unmet expectation is designed as a dependent variable of job preview. Furthermore, role clarity is assumed to serve as a mediator between the independent variable, job preview, and the dependent variable, unmet expectation. H5. H1b (RJP > TJP). Role Clarity. H4. H3 Job Preview. H1a (RJP > TJP) Unmet Expectation. Realistic Job Preview Traditional Job Preview. H2. Figure 3.1. Research framework. 19.

(28) Research Hypotheses Based on literature review, the hypotheses of the research are proposed as following: Hypothesis 1a: RJPs have a stronger effect on increasing individuals’ perception of unmet expectation than TJPs do during pre-hire phase. Hypothesis 1b: RJPs have a stronger effect on increasing individuals’ perception of role clarity than TJPs do during pre-hire phase. Hypothesis 2: Job preview has a positive effect on unmet expectations during pre-hire phase. Hypothesis 3: Job preview has a positive effect on role clarity during pre-hire phase. Hypothesis 4: Role clarity has a negative effect on unmet expectation during pre-hire phase. Hypothesis 5: Role clarity mediates the relationship between job preview and unmet expectation.. Research Procedure Research procedure illustrates the steps taken from the beginning of the research to the conclusion of the research. The first step taken by the researcher was reviewing literature in order to frame up ideas about the overall study. After the researcher identified the research topic, the research purposes and questions were proposed. By framing up the research topic as well as questions, the researcher then was able to develop the research framework and hypotheses based on the literature. Afterward, research instruments were designed for data collection. To ensure the reliability and validity, instruments were examined through conducting expert review and pilot test. After collecting data, the research had to conduct a series of analyses to answer prosed research questions. In the end, the research findings were reported based on the results of analyses and the literature, and the research could make a 20.

(29) conclusion of the study. The research procedure is shown in Figure 3.2.. Figure 3.2. Research procedure. Research Design The research was conducted through quasi-experimental method using scenarios in the survey questionnaire to collect data for statistical analysis, the scenarios simulated the process of recruiting during the pre-hire phase, and the participants received either realistic job preview video or traditional job preview video. At first, participants filled out pre-test of survey questionnaire, and they subsequently reviewed either RJP video or TJP video. Afterwards, they are again required to fill out the post-test survey questionnaire. Through comparing the differences between pre-test and post-test, researcher will be able to evaluate the change of participants’ attitude caused by the job preview video. 21.

(30) Sampling and Data Collection The sample population of the present study was individuals who were either about to enter job market or currently employed. As the purpose of the study aimed to understand job market in Taiwan, the population of the research was all Taiwanese. The researcher chose a quantitative method through distributing online survey questionnaires to targeted participants and examined the different effects of RJPs and TJPs on their perceptions of role clarity as well as unmet expectations. In addition, to avoid bias among targeted sample, both individuals with and without fulltime job experiences were invited to answer the survey questionnaire. As the quasi-experimental approach was adopted, the research used snowball sampling and convenient sampling while distributing online questionnaire, and collected data by contacting friends to share the link of online questionnaire with qualified samples. Through social media platform such as Facebook and Line, the total sample collected were 302, and 298 of the total samples were qualified. During the data collection phase, each participant firstly answered the pre-test of selfreport role clarity; later on, they were given a scenario described as following: the participant was looking for a job related to marketing, and he or she saw the vacancy of marketing specialist, which fit his or her major, posted on website by a virtual company, the industry of which also fit his or her interest. In addition, it was a growth company providing employees competitive wage rate and benefit. By reviewing the given scenario, participants filled out the pre-test perception of job attraction to the virtual company. Later on, participants were asked to watch either an RJP video or a TJP video of the marketing specialist in the company, which illustrated the job content and responsibilities in the position. After reviewing the job preview video, participants again filled out the post-test of role clarity and job attraction. Through the comparison between pre- and post-test, the researcher were able to find out the effect of job preview videos; also, the comparison between RJP and TJP was also discussed. The collected 22.

(31) descriptive statistics of the sample is shown in Table 3.1.. Table 3.1. Descriptive Statistics of the Sample Variable. Item. Frequency. Percentage (%). Job Preview. RJP. 148. 49.7%. Reviewed. TJP. 150. 50.3%. Male. 145. 48.7%. Female. 153. 51.3%. under 20 years old. 1. .3%. 21-30 years old. 288. 96.6%. 31-40 years old. 4. 1.3%. 41-50 years old. 1. .3%. 51 years old or above. 4. 1.3%. Senior in College. 22. 7.4%. Graduate Student. 73. 24.5%. In Military Service. 11. 3.7%. Unemployed. 41. 13.8%. Employed. 151. 50.7%. Fulltime Working. Yes. 190. 63.8%. Experience. No. 108. 36.2%. Gender. Age. Identity. (continued). Table 3.1. (continued) 23.

(32) 0 month. 108. 36.2%. 1-6 month(s). 49. 16.4%. Length of. 7-12 months. 48. 16.1%. Fulltime Working. 13-36 months. 78. 26.2%. Experience. 37-60 months. 6. 2.0%. 61-120 months. 5. 1.7%. 121 months or above. 4. 1.3%. Yes. 46. 15.4%. No. 252. 84.6%. Major in Marketing-Related Field. Instrument The instruments of the study consisted of job preview videos, measures of role clarity and unmet expectation. As the purpose of the study is to investigate phenomenon in Taiwan, all instruments are translated in Mandarin Chinese. Each participant reviewed either a realistic job preview (RJP) video or a traditional job preview (TJP) video of a marketing specialist. As for the other two variables, the research adopted the scale developed by Highhouse, Lievens, and Sinar in 2003 for the measure of unmet expectation and the scale developed by Saks and Cronshaw in 1990 for the measure of role clarity.. Job Previews (Realistic Job Preview Video & Traditional Job Preview Video) RJP and TJP were designed according to the characteristics of job previews, and the researcher made two job preview videos (https://youtu.be/gdTyRBL3LT8; https://youtu.be/24.

(33) 9NoOpQF_Xo) of marketing specialist based on the information provided by job banks as well as interviews with marketing majors. The way an RJP video was different from TJP video was because it presented both positive and negative aspects of the job and it included information job applicants were unlikely to know or were likely to have unrealistic expectations about, and also explained what was done on the job and why it should have been done; in addition, an RJP started job description with positive and exciting aspects of the job but did not hide negative ones. On the contrary, a TJP video of the marketing specialist in the study only presented positive aspects of the position instead of providing a realistic view of the position. For example, the major differences the RJP video had from TJP video were as following: (1) encountering complaints from customers (2) experiencing busy working conditions (3) having a meeting that ran overtime until late evening (4) sacrificing time with family members during business travels. Except for the four main characteristics above, the two job preview videos both presented positive working environment with friendly colleagues, and both RJP and TJP videos illustrated how employee are going to sharpen their skills, grow and are also provided with good compensation and benefits from the company. The comparison between two job preview videos is shown in Table 3.2.. Table 3.2. Comparison between RJP Video and TJP Video 25.

(34) RJP Video. TJP Video. Encountering complaints from customers.. Not shown in the video.. Experiencing busy working conditions.. Not shown in the video.. Having a meeting that ran overtime until. Having meeting which brought creativity. late evening.. and teamwork.. Sacrificing time with family members. Anticipating business travels.. during business travels.. Measurement. Unmet Expectation Unmet expectation in this study was measured through comparing the differences between pre-test and post-test of participants’ perception of organizational attractiveness. Because organizational attractiveness is a crucial factor affecting job applicants’ decision on job choice, the researcher aimed to examine the differences between pre-test and post-test of individuals’ perception to it. By comparing different results of organizational attractiveness, one was measured before reviewing job preview video and the other was measured after reviewing job preview video, the discrepancies between two responses illustrated the outcome of unmet expectations. The measurement for organizational attractiveness was provided to respondents twice, once after reviewing the introduction to the organization in the given scenario and before the job preview video (pre-test), another after viewing the job preview video (pos-test). The measurement of organizational attractiveness was derived from the scale developed by Highhouse et al. (2003). The original measurement used by Highhouse et al. (2003) included 26.

(35) three dimensions, including general attractiveness, prestige, and intention to pursue; there were five items in each dimension. Since this research used a simulated company instead of a real one, the dimension of prestige is not applicable, therefore the researcher adopted only two of three dimensions, general attractiveness and intention to pursue, which included ten questions, for the measure of the organizational attractiveness. Questions measuring general attractiveness includes five questions such as “For me, this company would be a good place to work;” while questions measuring individuals’ intention to pursue includes five questions such as “I would accept a job offer from this company.” All items used a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Cronbach's alpha for this scale in previous study (Fang, 2016) was 0.88 for general attractiveness and 0.82 for intention to pursue.. Role Clarity Role clarity in the current study was measured through the three-item scale developed by Saks and Cronshaw (1990). Originally, the three questions were designed to measure subjects who worked as hotel desk clerks; as a result, the example of the sample question was like, “I am well aware of the duties required of a hotel desk clerk.” For the present study, the researcher gave participants scenario of seeking for a marketing-related position, so the job in each item was transferred to marketing specialist. For example, the sample item was as following: “I am well aware of the duties required of a marketing specialist.” Cronbach’s alpha for the scale in previous study was 0.89. This study also measured role clarity twice, before (pre-test), and after job preview video (post-test).. Control Variable Career decision-making self-efficacy. 27.

(36) According to previous research, it was believed individuals’ career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE) was a significant predictor of individuals’ future planning and clarity (Michael, Cinamon, & Most, 2015). Moreover, it was found that CDMSE affected a person’s vocational identity as well as the degree of engagement in career-related activities (Gushue, Scanlan, Pantzer, & Clarke, 2006). As a result, the current study also conducted pre- and posttest of participants’ perception of CDMSE as a control variable. The measurement of CDMSE was firstly developed by Taylor and Betz in 1983 and it involved 50 tasks or behaviors required questions. Later on, there was the short form of career decision-making self-efficacy scale (CDMSE-SF) introduced by Betz, Klein, and Taylor in 1996 with 25 items evaluating individuals’ s confidence in making career decisions. The major purpose of the CDMSE was to control the effect of students’ perception of career-related self-efficacy on the dependent variable. Therefore, the present study adopted the scale of brief decision-making self-efficacy developed by Lent et al. (2016). The brief measure of CDMSE included 8 items enquiring respondents’ confidence in their ability to make careerrelated behaviors or decisions, and each item was measured using a 7-point Liker scale from 1 (no confidence) to 7 (very confident). Cronbach's alpha for this scale in previous study (Lent et al., 2016) was 0.96.. Reliability and Validity Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were both used to test the validity of the measurement. EFA was used to ensure the uni-dimensionality and construct validity of the measurements. As for CFA, it was performed in AMOS in order to ensure that data collected fit the theoretical measurement model of the study. As question items for variables were self-reported, a Harman’s one-factor test using EFA technique was also 28.

(37) conducted to observe common method variance (CMV). In addition, Cronbach Alpha reliability test was performed in order to ensure the internal consistency.. Exploratory Factor Analysis By conducting SPSS, the exploratory factor analysis was performed to check construct validity of measurement. Five main variables were analyzed, including pre- and post-test of job attraction, pre- and post-test of role clarity, and control variable, career decision-making self-efficacy. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy for EFA of job attraction (pre-test) and role clarity (pre-test) were .935 and .638. The Bartlett’s test of sphericity were both significant. On the other hand, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy for EFA of job attraction (post-test), role clarity (post-test), and career decision-making self-efficacy respectively were .950, .543, and .931. The Bartlett’s test of sphericity for the three variables were all significant. As a result, these outcomes indicated that the data was suitable for the EFA analysis. Factors were extracted by using the criterion of eigenvalue larger than 1 in Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation. Table 3.3 and 3.4 show the EFA results of each item by performing SPSS.. Table 3.3. EFA Result: Rotated Component Matrix for Job Attraction (pre-test) and Role Clarity (pre-test) 29.

(38) (n=298) Component 1 JA5_ A job at this company is very appealing to me.. .892. JA9_I would exert a great deal of effort to work for this company.. .877. JA3_ This company is attractive to me as a place for employment.. .874. JA6_ I would accept a job offer from this company.. .841. JA4_ I am interested in learning more about this company.. .836. JA7_ I would make this company one of my first choice as an employer.. .816. JA8_ If this company invited me for a job interview, I would go.. .792. JA1_ For me, this company would be a good place to work.. .749. JA10_ I would recommend this company to a friend looking for a job.. .630. JA2_ I would not be interested in this company except as a last resort.. .423. RC2_I am well aware of the duties required of a marketing specialist.. 2. .927. RC3_I have a very good idea of what the job of marketing specialist .914 entails. RC1_I really do not have a clear idea of what a marketing specialist .749 does. Note. Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotated Method: Varimax.. Table 3.4. EFA Result: Rotated Component Matrix for Job Attraction (post-test), Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy, and Role Clarity(post-test) (n=298) 30.

(39) Component 1 JA6_ I would accept a job offer from this company.. .920. JA3_ This company is attractive to me as a place for employment.. .903. JA5_ A job at this company is very appealing to me.. .900. JA7_ I would make this company one of my first choice as an. .882. 2. 3. employer. JA9_I would exert a great deal of effort to work for this company.. .868. JA4_ I am interested in learning more about this company.. .852. JA8_ If this company invited me for a job interview, I would go.. .777. JA10_ I would recommend this company to a friend looking for a job.. .754. JA1_ For me, this company would be a good place to work.. .753. JA2_ I would not be interested in this company except as a last resort.. .514. CDMSE3_ Pick the best-fitting career option for you from a list of. .884. your ideal careers. CDMSE5_ Match your skills, values, and interests to relevant. .881. occupations. CDMSE2_ Identify careers that best use your skills.. .852. CDMSE4_ Learn more about careers you might enjoy.. .834. CDMSE8_ Identify careers that best match your interests.. .831. CDMSE6_ Make a well-informed choice about which career path to. .829. pursue. (continued) Table 3.4. (continued) CDMSE1_ Figure out which career options could provide a good fit for your personality. 31. .811.

(40) CDMSE7_ Learn more about jobs that could offer things that are. .761. important to you. RC2_I am well aware of the duties required of a marketing specialist.. .873. RC3_I have a very good idea of what the job of marketing specialist. .869. entails. RC1_I really do not have a clear idea of what a marketing specialist. .523. does. Note. Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotated Method: Varimax.. Confirmatory Factor Analysis Using AMOS, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed in order to ensure the construct validity of the measurement. To determine the goodness of model fit, it was needed to check the result of CFA and ensure it meet the criteria for the goodness of fit, such as ChiSquared test, GFI, AGFI, RMESEA, and SRMR. The criteria for model fit indices are shown in Table 3.5.. Table 3.5. Summary of Goodness of Fit Criteria. 32.

(41) Chi-Square/ degree of freedom. Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007; Wheaton, Muthen, Alwin &Summers, 1997. < 5.0. 2/df) GFI. >.80 Acceptable Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007 >.90 Excellent. AGFI. >.80 Acceptable Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007 >.90 Excellent. SRMR. <.05 Well fit. Diamantopoulos & Siguaw,. >.05 but <.08 Acceptable fit. 2000; Hu & Bentler, 1999. <.05 Close fir RMSEA. >.05 but <.08 Reasonable fit. MacCallum, Brown & Sugawara, 1996. >.10 Poor fit Note. Adapted from “Structural Equation Modelling: Guidelines for Determining Model Fit,” by D. Hooper, J. Coughlan, and M. Mullen, 2008, Electronic Journal of Business Research Method, 6(1), 53-60. Copyright 2008 by The Academic Conference Ltd.. CFA for Research Model The measurement model of current study was tested through conducting CFA in AMOS in order to ensure the construct validity, and the results of model fit in pre-test were as following: (1) 2/df was 3.216, which fits the criterion (< 5.0), (2) GFI was .893, which was acceptable (>.80), (3) AGFI was .847, which was acceptable (>.80), (4) RMSEA was .086, which was a reasonable fit, and (5) SRMR was .0432, which was a well fit (<.05). On the other hand, the results of model fit in post-test were as following: (1) 2/df was 2.802, which fits the criterion (< 5.0), (2) GFI was .856, which was acceptable (>.80), (3) AGFI was .821, which was acceptable (>.80), (4) RMSEA was .078, which was a reasonable fit, and (5) SRMR was .0561,. 33.

(42) which was also an acceptable fit (>.05 but <.08). The summary of model fit in pre-test and post-test was shown in Table 3.6, 3.7., 3.8., and 3.9.. Table 3.6. Model Fit Summary of Pre-Test. 2. df. P. 2/df. GFI. AGFI. RMSEA. SRMR. 205.823. 64. .000. 3.216. .893. .847. .086. .0432. Table 3.7. Model Fit Summary of Post-Test. 2. df. P. 2/df. GFI. AGFI. RMSEA. SRMR. 521.156. 186. .000. 2.802. .856. .821. .078. .0561. Table 3.8. Summary of Average Variance Extracted (AVE) and Composite Reliability (CR) in Pre-Test AVE. CR. Job Attraction. .61. .94. Role Clarity. .66. .84. Table 3.9. 34.

(43) Summary of Average Variance Extracted (AVE) and Composite Reliability (CR) in Post-Test AVE. CR. Job Attraction. .71. .96. Role Clarity. .72. .95. CDMSE. .67. .84. Note. CDMSE= Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy.. Figure 3.3. Measurement model of job attraction (pre-test), and role clarity (pre-test). 35.

(44) Figure 3.4. Measurement model of job attraction (post-test), role clarity (post-test) and career decision-making self-efficacy. Alpha Coefficient Test In order to ensure the reliability of each variable, alpha coefficient test was conducted. Except role clarity (post-test) which has a Chronbach’s alpha of .69 which is very close to the threshold of .7, the results of the analysis show all Cronbach’s alpha’s were larger than .7. 36.

(45) (Nunnally, 1978), which means that all variables in the present study possessed internal consistency reliability. The results are presented in Table 3.10.. Table 3.10. Cronbach’s Alpha of Research Variables (n=298) Variable. Cronbach’s alpha. Job Attraction (pre-test) Job Attraction (post-test) Role Clarity (pre-test). .92 .95 .83. Role Clarity (post-test) Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy. .69 .94. Harmon’s Single Factor Test Since the items for each variable were self-reported in the current study, a Harmon’s single factor test was conducted to examine the common method variance (CMV) problem. The result showed that the largest un-rotated factor explained 42.95% of the variances, which was lower than the suggested ceiling of 50% (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003). Therefore, CMV in the current study may not be a serious concern.. 37.

(46) CHAPTER IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS. In this chapter, data for the current research was analyzed by using SPSS and AMOS. Descriptive statistics was used to examine sample profile, mean and standard deviation; Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to examine association between pairs of variables; Ttest analysis was conducted to compare means of pre-test and post-test of participants’ responses as well as to examine the differences between RJP and TJP. At last, AMOS was used to conduct path model analysis of the proposed relationships, and Sobel test was used to confirm the mediating effect of role clarity.. Pearson’s Correlation Analysis By conducing Pearson’s Correlation analysis, the results could be observed from Table 4.1. Since JP was dummy coded as 0 representing TJP and 1 representing RJP, it appears that RJP has a negative strong correlation with post-test job attraction (r= -.15, p<.01). On the other hand, post-test role clarity has a positive correlation with RJP as well (r= .10, p= .072) although the result is not significant in the analysis. In addition, whether a respondent was majoring in marketing-related field does have a correlation with individual’s perception of both pre- and post-test of role clarity (r= .39, p<.01; r= .15, p<.01). As expected, the result showed that career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE), which was set to be a control variable, had a significant correlation with post-test role clarity (r=.22, p<.01) and post-test of job attraction (r= .31, p<.01), the result is in agreement with the finding of previous studies saying that CDMSE has a relationship with individuals’ perception of role clarity (Michael, Cinamon, & Most, 2015). Furthermore, post-test role clarity has a negative correlation with unmet. 38.

(47) expectation (r= -.28, p<.01) which shows that the higher an individual’s perception of role clarity, the lower the unmet expectation.. 39.

(48) Table 4.1. Means, Standard Deviations, Correlations and Reliability (n=298) Mean. SD. 1. .50 .49. .50 .50. .08. 3. Age 4. Working Experience 5. Marketing Major 6. Tenure. 25.05 .64 .15. 3.81 .48 .36. 13.92. 7. Role Clarity (pre-test) 8. Role Clarity (post-test) 9. CDMSE 10. Job Attraction (pre-test) 11. Job Attraction (post-test) 12. Unmet Expectation. 1. JP 2. Gender. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. .09 .08 .15**. .04 -.12* -.04. .22** .02. .03. 31.37. .03. .02. .79**. .34**. .02. 3.65 4.91. 1.34 1.14. .94 .10. -.12* -.06. .10 .00. .18** .08. 5.34. .92. .02. .02. .06. 5.34 5.03. .85 1.11. -.10 -.15**. .08 .04. .31. 1.02. .08. .03. 9. 10. 11. .39** .15**. .13* -.04. (.83) .34**. (.69). -.11. .06. .05. .09. .22**. (.94). .02 -.02. .06 .10. .04 -.01. .07 .03. .07 .14*. .20** .41**. .37** .31**. (.92) .48**. (.95). .03. -.06. .041. .02. -.10. -.28*. -.04. .30**. -.69**. Note. Number in the brackets represents the Cronbach’s Alpha value. *p < .05. **p < .01. JP: 0= TJP, 1= RJP; Gender: 0= Female, 1= Male; Working Experience: 0= No, 1= Yes; Marketing Major: 0= No, 1= Yes; Tenure: (month); CDMSE= Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy.. 35.

(49) T-test Analysis Independent-Samples T-test To compare the differences between participants receiving RJP video and TJP video and test hypotheses 1a: RJPs have stronger effect on increasing individuals’ perception of unmet expectation than TJPs do and 1b: RJPs have stronger effect on increasing individuals’ perception of role clarity than TJPs do, independent-samples t-test was conducted. As the result presented in Table 4.2, individuals receiving RJP video (M= 5.02, SD= 1.14) reported higher score on role clarity than TJP receivers (M= 4.78, SD= 1.13), and the result showed there was no significant difference between two groups t(296)= 1.80, n.s, which rejected hypothesis 1b. As for job attraction and the discrepancy of job attraction -- unmet expectation, even though participants reviewing TJP video (M= 5.19, SD= 1.04) did have higher score on job attraction than RJP groups (M= 4.86, SD= 1.15) with significant differences, t(296)=. -2.64, p<.01, the. result of unmet expectation showed that RJP group slightly scored higher than TJP group but the difference between two groups was not significant t(296)= 1.43, n.s.; as a result, hypothesis 1a was not supported. Table 4.2. Results of Independent-Samples T-test for Role Clarity, Job Attraction, and Unmet Expectation in RJP and TJP (n=298) Mean (SD) df. t. p. d. 5.02 (1.14) 4.78 (1.13). 296. 1.80. .072. 0.20. 4.86 (1.15) 5.19 (1.04). 296. -2.64. .009. -0.30. Unmet 0.39 (1.10) 0.22 (0.94) Expectation. 296. 1.43. .154. 0.16. RJP (n=148) Role Clarity Job Attraction. TJP (n=150). 36.

(50) Paired-Samples T-test In order to compare the differences of individuals’ role clarity and job attraction between pre-test and post-test, paired-samples t-test was conducted. RJP group and TJP group both reported higher score on role clarity in post-test, which indicated that either RJP video t(147)= -10.93, p<.01, or TJP video t(149)= -10.47, p<.05, helped individuals understand the role of marketing specialist in the scenario. However, the result showed that both RJP and TJP groups’ scores on job attraction decreased in post-test, which indicated that both RJP video t(147)= 4.32, p<.01, and TJP video t(149)= -2.91, p<.01, had negative effect on individuals’ perception of job attraction, and RJP video (d= -.37) had stronger negative effect on job attraction than TJP (d= -.26) did.. Table 4.3. Results of Paired-Samples T-test for Role Clarity and Attraction in Pre-test and Post-test in RJP Group (n=148) Mean (SD) RJP. 95% CI for Mean. pre-test. df. t. p. d. post-test Difference. Role. 3.77. 5.02. Clarity. (1.32). (1.14). Job. 5.25. 4.86. Attraction. (0.96). (1.15). -1.48. -1.03. 147. -10.93. .000. 1.01. .21. .57. 147. 4.32. .000. -0.37. 37.

(51) Table 4.4. Results of Paired-Samples T-test for Role Clarity and Attraction in Pre-test and Post-test in TJP Group (n=150) Mean (SD) TJP. 95% CI for Mean. pre-test. df. t. p. d. post-test Difference. Role. 3.52. 4.78. Clarity. (1.34). (1.13). Job. 5.42. 5.19. Attraction. (0.70). (1.04). -1.50. -1.03. 149. -10.47. .004. 1.12. .07. .37. 149. 2.91. .000. -0.26. Path Analysis In order to examine the causal relationship among variables in the current research, path model was constructed and analyzed using AMOS Structural Equation Modeling technique. At first, model fit was checked in order to ensure the goodness of the model and the results are as following: (1) 2/df was 2.763, which fits the criterion (< 5.0), (2) GFI was .848, which was acceptable (>.80), (3) AGFI was .814, which was acceptable (>.80), (4) RMSEA was .077, which was a reasonable fit, and (5) SRMR was .0787, which was an acceptable fit (>.05 but <.08). The results are shown in Table 4.5. After ensuring the goodness of model fit, regression weight between variables was checked. The results of the standardized estimates show that the independent variable, job preview, significantly affects the dependent variable, individuals’ perception of unmet expectation (β= .13, p< .05); secondly, job preview has a slightly significant effect on the mediator, role clarity (β= .069, .05< p <.1); at last, the result shows the mediator, role clarity, has a strong negative effect on the dependent variable, unmet expectation 38.

(52) (β= -.33, p< .01). From the results of path model analysis in SEM, hypotheses 2, 3, and 4 are supported. Table 4.5. Model Fit Summary. 2. df. P. 2/df. GFI. AGFI. RMSEA. SRMR. 569.137. 206. .000. 2.763. .848. .814. 0.77. .0787. Figure 4.1. Path model of RJP, role clarity and unmet expectation 39.

(53) Table 4.6. Standardized Coefficient and T-values of Structural Equation Modeling Standardized Path. T-value coefficient. Job Preview → Role Clarity. .12†. 1.815. Role Clarity → Unmet Expectation. -.33***. -3.548. Job Preview → Unmet Expectation. .13*. 2.332. CDMSE → Unmet Expectation. .05. .933. Note. †p < .1, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. CDMSE= Career Decision-Making SelfEfficacy. Sobel Test In order to examine the mediating effect of role clarity between job preview and unmet expectation, Sobel test was conducted to test hypothesis 5: Role clarity mediates the relationship between job preview and unmet expectation. Through conducting Sobel test (Preacher & Leonardelli, 2017), the result indicated that role clarity did not carry the influence of the independent variable to the dependent variable as the critical z-value was 1.62, which did not meet the required threshold, 1.96 and the p-value was .11, which was higher than .05. (Sobel, 1982) Consequently, hypothesis 5 was not supported.. Summary of Analyses Results The purpose of the current study was to compare the differences between RJPs and TJPs as well as both job previews’ influence on individuals’ perception of role clarity and unmet expectation during pre-hire phase of recruitment. In order to analyze the proposed hypotheses, 40.