The Behavioral Economics of Job Search and Hiring

The process by which workers match to jobs involves complex interactions between the decisions of those looking for work and employers seeking to fill vacancies. The decisions made by job seekers may reflect considerations not incorporated into standard job search models such as overconfidence, reference-dependence, and the use of heuristic decision-rules while also being influenced by job-seekers’ non-cognitive skills such as personality, grit, and locus of control. At the same time, employers may attempt to learn about many of the non-cognitive characteristics of workers through algorithmic testing and screening or reviews of social media. Alternatively employers may offer different work environments or compensation methods to attract workers with particular preferences or non-cognitive skills. As a consequence, behavioral factors including biases, heuristics, non-cognitive skills and preferences may influence the matching process through effects on both sides of the market.

The aim of the Research Topic is to collect original studies on the workers’ job search behaviors and employers’ recruiting and hiring practices. Our goal is to assemble new insights on the role of personalities, preferences, noncognitive skills, heuristics and biases in the search and matching process, and how these factors differentially workers and employers. We hope that these insights will inform both policies aimed at job seekers as well as human resource managers.

We welcome submissions investigating the behaviors of job seekers or employers in the matching process using experimental or observational data. Papers investigating the behaviors of firms in recruitment, screening, and hiring are particularly encouraged. Potential topics might include:
-How employers use algorithmic screening in hiring and/or the effects of algorithmic screening on hiring outcomes
-How employers use social media and heuristic decision-rules during the recruitment process
-Whether employers use job design, work environments, or compensation practices to attract workers with particular preferences or traits, particularly when a worker’s fit in the larger context of the workforce is important
-The strategic considerations influencing the information revealed by employers and job seekers in the matching process
-The effects of overconfidence, reference-dependence, patience, other noncognitive skills and preferences on search
-How non-cognitive skills influence job seekers use of technology
-The effects of nudges and interventions in job search

Submissions on topics not listed above that fit within the scope of the Research Topic will be given full consideration.

Keywords: job search, matching, recruiting, screening, hiring, personality, non-cognitive skills

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.