Julie McCarthy - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Julie McCarthy

Journal of Management

We provide a comprehensive but critical review of research on applicant reactions to selection pr... more We provide a comprehensive but critical review of research on applicant reactions to selection procedures published since 2000 (n = 145), when the last major review article on applicant reactions appeared in the Journal of Management. We start by addressing the main criticisms levied against the field to determine whether applicant reactions matter to individuals and employers ("So what?"). This is followed by a consideration of "What's new?" by conducting a comprehensive and detailed review of applicant reaction research centered upon four areas of growth: expansion of the theoretical lens, incorporation of new technology in the selection arena, internationalization of applicant reactions research, and emerging boundary conditions. Our final section focuses on "Where to next?" and offers an updated and integrated conceptual model of applicant reactions, four key challenges, and eight specific future research questions. Our conclusion is that the field demonstrates stronger research designs, with studies incorporat-Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank the associate editor, Fred Oswald, and our anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that greatly contributed to improving our review. We would also like to thank Ekaterina Kapoustina and Catherine Leblanc for their help with coding the studies in supplemental appendix Table S1. This research was supported in part by a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded to Julie M. McCarthy (No. 435-2015-0220).

is an award winning teacher and researcher who conducts research about relationships at work incl... more is an award winning teacher and researcher who conducts research about relationships at work including new hire onboarding, recruitment, reactions to selection, overqualification, mentoring, and leadership published in outlets such as the Bio: Julie M. McCarthy (Ph.D., Western University Canada) conducts research on personnel selection, work-life balance, and workplace anxiety. In the corporate sector, Julie has developed performance management systems, personnel selection tools, and training programs. Her work is published in outlets such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, and Psychological Science.

Psychological Science, 2011

Does emotional intelligence promote behavior that strictly benefits the greater good, or can it a... more Does emotional intelligence promote behavior that strictly benefits the greater good, or can it also advance interpersonal deviance? In the investigation reported here, we tested the possibility that a core facet of emotional intelligence-emotionregulation knowledge-can promote both prosocial and interpersonally deviant behavior. Drawing from research on how the effective regulation of emotion promotes goal achievement, we predicted that emotion-regulation knowledge would strengthen the effects of other-oriented and self-oriented personality traits on prosocial behavior and interpersonal deviance, respectively. Two studies supported our predictions. Among individuals with higher emotion-regulation knowledge, moral identity exhibited a stronger positive association with prosocial behavior in a social dilemma (Study 1), and Machiavellianism exhibited a stronger positive association with interpersonal deviance in the workplace (Study 2). Thus, emotion-regulation knowledge has a positive side and a dark side.

Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 2013

Candidate perceptions of test fairness have significant consequences for organizations. However, ... more Candidate perceptions of test fairness have significant consequences for organizations. However, little attention has been directed toward interventions that may promote favorable reactions, despite recognition that the identification of such management practices is important. The current study investigated a strategy designed to improve candidate reactions-field vetting of items. This strategy involves comprehensive test item review sessions with a variety of applied subject matter experts. The extent to which the field vetting process resulted in more favorable reactions among police officers vying for promotion was investigated using a naturally-occurring quasi-experimental design. Results showed support for the field vetting process to improve reactions to high-stakes tests.

Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2013

The extent to which individuals manage multiple role domains has yet to be fully understood. We a... more The extent to which individuals manage multiple role domains has yet to be fully understood. We advance past research by examining the effect of interrole conflict among three very common and critically important life roles-work, family, and school-on three corresponding types of satisfaction. Further, we examine individual-based techniques that can empower people to manage multiple roles. In doing so, we integrate the disengagement strategies from the work recovery and coping literatures. These strategies focus on taking your mind off the problems at hand and include cognitive disengagement (psychological detachment, cognitive avoidance coping), as well as cognitive distortion (escape avoidance coping). We examine these strategies in a two-wave study of 178 individuals faced with the challenge of managing work, family, and school responsibilities. Findings demonstrated a joint offsetting effect of psychological detachment and cognitive avoidance coping on the relationship between work conflict and work satisfaction. Findings also indicated an exacerbating effect of escape avoidance coping on the relationship between work conflict and work satisfaction, school conflict and school satisfaction, and between family conflict and family satisfaction. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

International Public Management Journal, 2012

attila.acadiau.ca

This study examined candidate reactions (motivation, performance anxiety, behavioural anxiety, pr... more This study examined candidate reactions (motivation, performance anxiety, behavioural anxiety, procedural justice, & interactional justice) to promotional exams in a sample of police officers. Reactions were found to be significantly and differentially related to exam performance, organizational respect and recommendation intentions. Reactions also mediated relations between candidate coping strategies and exam performance. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.

In this article, we draw from Conservation of Resources Theory to advance and test a framework wh... more In this article, we draw from Conservation of Resources Theory to advance and test a framework which
predicts that emotional exhaustion plays an explanatory role underlying the relation between workplace
anxiety and job performance. Further, we draw from social exchange theories to predict that leader–
member exchange and coworker exchange will mitigate the harmful effects of anxiety on job performance.
Findings across a 3-wave study of police officers supported our model. Emotional exhaustion
mediated the link between workplace anxiety and job performance, over and above the effect of cognitive
interference. Further, coworker exchange mitigated the positive relation between anxiety and emotional
exhaustion, while leader–member exchange mitigated the negative relation between emotional exhaustion
and job performance. This study elucidates the effects of workplace anxiety on resource depletion
via emotional exhaustion and highlights the value of drawing on social resources to offset the potentially
harmful effects of workplace anxiety on job performance.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 2013

Considerable evidence suggests that how candidates react to selection procedures can affect their... more Considerable evidence suggests that how candidates react to selection procedures can affect their test performance and their attitudes toward the hiring organization (e.g., recommending the firm to others). However, very few studies of candidate reactions have examined one of the outcomes organizations care most about: job performance. We attempt to address this gap by developing and testing a conceptual framework that delineates whether and how candidate reactions might influence job performance. We accomplish this objective using data from 4 studies (total N ϭ 6,480), 6 selection procedures (personality tests, job knowledge tests, cognitive ability tests, work samples, situational judgment tests, and a selection inventory), 5 key candidate reactions (anxiety, motivation, belief in tests, self-efficacy, and procedural justice), 2 contexts (industry and education), 3 continents (North America, South America, and Europe), 2 study designs (predictive and concurrent), and 4 occupational areas (medical, sales, customer service, and technological). Consistent with previous research, candidate reactions were related to test scores, and test scores were related to job performance. Further, there was some evidence that reactions affected performance indirectly through their influence on test scores. Finally, in no cases did candidate reactions affect the prediction of job performance by increasing or decreasing the criterionrelated validity of test scores. Implications of these findings and avenues for future research are discussed.

A multidimensional measure of interview anxiety, called the Measure of Anxiety in Selection Inter... more A multidimensional measure of interview anxiety, called the Measure of Anxiety in Selection Interviews (MASI), was developed using a student sample (N= 212) and tested using a sample of job applicants in a field setting (N= 276). The MASI goes beyond the measurement of “weak knees” and “sweaty palms” by providing an assessment of 5 interview anxiety dimensions: Communication, Appearance, Social, Performance, and Behavioral. The psychometric properties of the scales were strong and confirmatory factor analyses supported the a priori structure. In addition, substantial evidence for the concurrent, discriminant, criterion-related, and incremental validity of the MASI was obtained. Moreover, a multiple correlation of .34 was found for the 5 MASI scales in the prediction of interview performance. The development of the MASI has important implications for the field, as it may provide the foundation for future research on job interview anxiety, guide interview anxiety treatment programs, and promote the enhancement of job interview validity.

This study examines the extent to which highly structured job interviews are resistant to demogra... more This study examines the extent to which highly structured job interviews are resistant to demographic similarity effects. The sample comprised nearly 20,000 applicants for a managerial-level position in a large organization. Findings were unequivocal: Main effects of applicant gender and race were not associated with interviewers’ ratings of applicant performance nor was applicant–interviewer similarity with regard to gender and race. These findings address past inconsistencies in research on demographic similarity effects in employment interviews and demonstrate the value of using highly structured interviews to minimize the potential influence of applicant demographic characteristics on selection
decisions.

Although letters of recommendation (LORS) are widely used, little research has examined how accur... more Although letters of recommendation (LORS) are widely used, little research has examined how accurately they predict job performance. This investigation was designed to improve predictive validity by developing a standardized reference form and evaluating 3 different rating formats: Multi-Item scales, Relative Percentile Method (RPM) scales, and Global Trait Rankings. A total of 520 individuals (aged 17-41 yrs) applied to the Canadian military, and 544 LORs were obtained. Complete predictor and criterion data were available for 57 participants. Regression analyses indicated that the validity of the RPM rating format was substantially higher than previous estimates of LOR validity.

The current research investigated questions that persist regarding the criterion-related and cons... more The current research investigated questions that persist regarding the criterion-related and construct validity of situational (SI) versus past-behaviour (PBI) structured interview formats in predicting the job performance of managers. Analyses of data collected from 157 applicants to managerial positions showed that the PBI format significantly predicted job performance ratings (r = .32, p <.01), whereas the SI format did not (r = .09, ns). Investigation of potential construct differences between the SI and PBI formats showed that the PBI was more highly related to manager-relevant cognitive ability measures, assessment centre exercises and personality traits, as compared with the SI. Such differences help to explain the predictive validity differences between the SI and PBI observed in current and previous research.

Balancing multiple roles is a challenge for individuals in many sectors of the population. The pu... more Balancing multiple roles is a challenge for individuals in many sectors of the population. The purpose of
this study was to test the hypothesis that individuals have dispositional tendencies to experience interrole
conflict and facilitation. We also aimed to show that coping styles and life satisfaction are correlates of
dispositional conflict and facilitation tendencies. Two survey studies were conducted with individuals
involved in 3 life roles (i.e., employee, student, and family member; Study 1: N 193; Study 2: N
284). The hierarchical structure of conflict and facilitation was examined in both studies. Support for the
dispositional model was found in both cases through the use of hierarchical confirmatory factor analyses.
In Study 2, a longitudinal assessment of the nomological network surrounding conflict and facilitation
tendencies was conducted with structural equation modeling analyses; we found that coping styles had
synchronous relations with dispositional conflict and facilitation; dispositional conflict had a lagged and
negative relation with life satisfaction.

International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 2005

Employee reactions to promotional examinations were investigated in 2 studies (N = 498 & 182, res... more Employee reactions to promotional examinations were investigated in 2 studies (N = 498 & 182, respectively) of police officers. Anxiety, motivation, and justice perceptions were examined as possible predictors of promotional exam performance and intentions to recommend the exam to others. Reactions to a promotional examination were significantly and differentially related to those criteria. Motivation predicted performance whereas justice perceptions predicted recommendation intentions. In Study 2, the role of cognitive processing was also investigated. Results indicated that candidate reactions predicted exam performance through cognitive processing mechanisms. Exam motivation facilitated cognitive processing, which resulted in higher levels of exam performance. In contrast, exam anxiety exhibited both facilitative and debilitative cognitive processing effects.

Personnel Psychology, 2009

Journal of Business and Psychology, 2006

Justice and signalling theory were used to explain the effects of discriminatory interview questi... more Justice and signalling theory were used to explain the effects of discriminatory interview questions on applicant reactions. Participants were randomly assigned to a hypothetical interview condition with four, two or no discriminatory questions. Discriminatory questions had a significant negative effect on participant's reactions to the interview and interviewer; perceptions of employee treatment; and intentions to pursue employment, accept a job offer, and recommend the organization to others. Participants also responded less favorably to a female interviewer, and female interviewees reported more negative perceptions. In addition, a sequential model was supported in which discriminatory questions had a negative effect on reactions toward the interview and interviewer; reactions were positively related to organizational attractiveness; and organizational attractiveness was positively related to intentions to pursue employment, accept a job offer, and recommend the organization.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1997

Twin Research, 1998

With the recent resurgence in popularity of trait theories of leadership, it is timely to conside... more With the recent resurgence in popularity of trait theories of leadership, it is timely to consider the genetic determination of the multiple factors comprising the leadership construct. Individual differences in personality traits have been found to be moderately to highly heritable, and so it follows that if there are reliable personality trait differences between leaders and non-leaders, then there may be a heritable component to these individual differences. Despite this connection between leadership and personality traits, however, there are no studies of the genetic basis of leadership using modern behavior genetic methodology. The present study proposes to address the lack of research in this area by examining the heritability of leadership style, as measured by selfreport psychometric inventories. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), the Leadership Ability Evaluation, and the Adjective Checklist were completed by 247 adult twin pairs (183 monozygotic and 64 same-sex dizygotic). Results indicated that most of the leadership dimensions examined in this study are heritable, as are two higher level factors (resembling transactional and transformational leadership) derived from an obliquely rotated principal components factors analysis of the MLQ. Univariate analyses suggested that 48% of the variance in transactional leadership may be explained by additive heritability, and 59% of the variance in transformational leadership may be explained by non-additive (dominance) heritability. Multivariate analyses indicated that most of the variables studied shared substantial genetic covariance, suggesting a large overlap in the underlying genes responsible for the leadership dimensions.