Applicant reactions to selection procedures were examined in terms of the satisfaction
and/or violation of 10 procedural justice rules. The authors first collected 237
critical incidents describing fair and unfair treatment during selection processes
from 31 individuals who had recently participated in job search and hiring. The
critical incidents were categorized into 10 procedural justice rules, and the distribution
of these incidents was examined for different hiring outcomes and different
selection procedures. The most common procedural concerns reflected selection
procedure job relatedness and the interpersonal treatment applicants had received.
Accepted applicants were primarily concerned about consistency of treatment, while
rejected applicants were more concerned about receiving timely feedback and blatant
bias. Ease of faking was the primary procedural concern among applicants who
took honesty and personality tests, while job relatedness was the primary concern
among applicants who took ability and work sample tests. The authors concluded
the paper by discussing future research issues and offering practical suggestions for
minimizing applicants’ negative reactions to selection processes.