Temporal placement of information, expectancy, causal attributions, and overall final judgments in employment decision making.

Abstract
Six transcripts of interview segments (4 dealing with success and 2 with failure) were presented to 465 subjects in 3 different sequences to examine how the temporal placement of positive and negative information affects an interviewer''s causal interpretations of an applicant''s past performance. Three different expectancies were created by presenting each subject with a favorable, neutral or unfavorable reference letter. Interviewers make significantly more internal attributions about positive information when it follows negative information (i.e., contrast). Job applicants are more likely to be hired and rated as more suitable when interviewers encounter information in a negative-positive sequence than in a positive-negative sequence (i.e., recency). The findings are interpreted in terms of Jones and Goethals'' model.

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