Article Gold Open Access 2025

Do firms with works councils prefer agreeable job applicants? A discrete choice experiment

PH
Pfeifer, Harald Ulrich
 WC
Wehner, Caroline
 DG
De Grip, Andries
 KJ
Kensbock, Julia M.
Industrial Relations
Journal · Vol. 64 · Issue 4 · pp. 547-579
Abstract

Works councils in many countries are involved in dismissal procedures and may therefore invoke high hold-up costs for firms laying off workers. To avoid these conflicts, firms with a works council may have a stronger preference for more agreeable job applicants who have a low risk of dismissal. We conduct a discrete choice experiment among recruiters to assess their preferences regarding job applicants' personality traits and competence. In line with our expectations, we find that recruiters from works-council firms more strongly prefer agreeable job applicants. We also find that more agreeable recruiters choose more agreeable employees, indicating a similarity-attraction effect. © 2024 The Author(s). Industrial Relations published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Regents of the University of California (RUC).

Keywords

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Index Keywords

Employment Job search labor standard social behavior discrete choice analysis experimental study labor supply preference behavior
Author Affiliations
Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), Bonn, Germany, Universiteit Maastricht, Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands, IZA - Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Universiteit Maastricht, Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands, IZA - Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaft, Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
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