Incorporating Job Embeddedness into the Selection Process PTC/NC Friday July 16, 2004

1. IncorporatingJob Embeddedness into the Selection ProcessPTC/NC Friday July 16, 2004 Chris John Sablynski, Ph.D. Assistant Professor College of Business Administration California State University, Sacramento

2. The Workforce “Life Cycle” 1) Recruit 2) Select 3) Retain 4) Turnover - Functional vs. Dysfunctional

3. Let’s Start With Recruitment • Assume we have recruited and selected well…. • Assume some employees have removed themselves from the organization • Assume we have identified “keepers” • Now what???

4. Retention • Our goal is to keep the best employees • Question: What has traditional research and practice recommended we do to try to accomplish this goal?

5. Retention • Answer: Focus on… - Job Satisfaction - Organizational Commitment - Perceived Alternatives Another Question: “Is this all we can do?”

6. Introducing Job Embeddedness • Answer = “Of course not… ” • This is where Job Embeddedness (JE) is important • It flips the question of “why do people leave” to “why do people stay”

7. What is Job Embeddedness? Job Embeddedness An overall construct conceptualized as the combined forces that keep a person from leaving his or her job. There are three dimensions: fit, links and sacrifice. Each dimension is related to bothon & off-the-job situations, suggesting six separate factors (Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski & Erez, 2001).

8. Job Embeddedness – 6 Sub-dimensions

9. Job Embeddedness 1) Fit: Fit is an employee’s perceived compatibility with an organization and with his or her environment (i.e., values of the organization, organizational culture, physical location of organization, likes the weather, leisure opportunities, etc.)

10. Job Embeddedness 2) Links: The extent to which employees have connections to other people or activities both on and off the job (i.e., co-workers, work teams, community organizations, family close by, etc)

11. Job Embeddedness 3) Sacrifice: The perceived cost for material or psychological benefits that may be forfeited by leaving one’s job (e.g., perks, potential promotions, benefits, selling a “great” home, leaving a great school district)

12. What Does JE Predict? • Turnover • Absenteeism • Job Performance • Organizational Citizenship Behavior

13. So How Can We Implement JE? • JE can best be implemented by focusing on each segment individually…. • On and off-the-job… • Fit, Links, & Sacrifice • Mitchell, Holtom, Lee (2001)

14. Job Embeddedness & Selection • JE is a model which captures “cause” – that is, we find that being married and owning a home increase (cause) JE. That is, being embedded doesn’t make a person buy a home and get married.

15. JE & Selection (cont) • How can we create a profile of the types of people who are likely to become embedded? • Biodata approach • Structured Interview Q & A • Personality/Intelligence tests • Level of involvement in previous positions • Fit – interview?

16. Job Embeddedness • Future Studies and Applications - - Individual/Industry Differences - Career Stage Differences - Modeling JE via proxies - “Shocks” - “Inertia” - Other Applications e.g., college student retention

17. Questions? • Thank you for your attention….I hope you found this interesting and useful • Please contact me if you are interested in the topic or have any questions in the future Chris J. Sablynski, Ph.D. Phone: 916-278-7164 Email: sablynsk@csus.edu