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Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title The downside of looking for team players in job advertisements
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Agnes Bäker
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Journal of Business Economics / Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft
Publisher Springer
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0044-2372
Volume 85
Number 2
Page Range 157 - 179
Date 2015
Abstract Text Over the last two decades, the percentage of job advertisements requiring teamwork skills has greatly increased. However, the effects of requiring teamwork skills on the applicant pool are not yet clear. Addressing this research gap, this article makes use of original data from an online survey applying conjoint design. The survey evidence points to (a) effectively induced self-selection with respect to teamwork skills, but also (b) an adverse effect of requiring teamwork skills on the task-related skills of the applicants. More specifically, requiring teamwork skills in job advertisements resulted in potential employees with higher teamwork skills, ceteris paribus, applying with a significantly higher probability. However, it also resulted in potential employees with higher task-related skills, ceteris paribus, applying with a significantly lower probability. Considering that organizations always need employees with high task-related skills, but that they may not always need team players, they should carefully consider when the requirement for teamwork skills is listed in their job advertisements—because there is a downside to looking for team players.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1007/s11573-014-0725-5
Other Identification Number merlin-id:13366
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