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What should I say? Testing ways to reduce fear and increase disclosure of incivility in reference checks

We utilize signaling theory as a foundation for testing ways to decrease reference providers’ fear of adverse consequences and increase disclosure of workplace incivility in reference checks. We focus on three reminders–commonly recommended by practitioners–that may be sent to reference providers in...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Walsh, Benjamin M., Heighton, Brittany, Dingens, Chloe
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10426956/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37582094
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290011
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author Walsh, Benjamin M.
Heighton, Brittany
Dingens, Chloe
author_facet Walsh, Benjamin M.
Heighton, Brittany
Dingens, Chloe
author_sort Walsh, Benjamin M.
collection PubMed
description We utilize signaling theory as a foundation for testing ways to decrease reference providers’ fear of adverse consequences and increase disclosure of workplace incivility in reference checks. We focus on three reminders–commonly recommended by practitioners–that may be sent to reference providers in the instructions prior to the reference check: reminders of applicant consent, qualified privilege, and confidentiality. 420 supervisors were recruited via Prolific.co to complete a hypothetical reference check for the employee with whom they least like to work. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions in a two (applicant consent reminder: yes/no) X two (qualified privilege reminder: yes/no) X two (confidentiality reminder: yes/no) between-subjects design. Instructions before the reference check were manipulated in a manner that corresponded to their experimental condition, after which they completed measures of fear and incivility. Results showed no main effects, but two interactions. Applicant consent and qualified privilege interacted in relation to fear of adverse legal consequences, and confidentially and qualified privilege interacted in relation to reports of applicant incivility (p < .10). Collectively, our largely null findings suggest that reference checks may be a limited tool for incivility prevention.
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spelling pubmed-104269562023-08-16 What should I say? Testing ways to reduce fear and increase disclosure of incivility in reference checks Walsh, Benjamin M. Heighton, Brittany Dingens, Chloe PLoS One Research Article We utilize signaling theory as a foundation for testing ways to decrease reference providers’ fear of adverse consequences and increase disclosure of workplace incivility in reference checks. We focus on three reminders–commonly recommended by practitioners–that may be sent to reference providers in the instructions prior to the reference check: reminders of applicant consent, qualified privilege, and confidentiality. 420 supervisors were recruited via Prolific.co to complete a hypothetical reference check for the employee with whom they least like to work. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions in a two (applicant consent reminder: yes/no) X two (qualified privilege reminder: yes/no) X two (confidentiality reminder: yes/no) between-subjects design. Instructions before the reference check were manipulated in a manner that corresponded to their experimental condition, after which they completed measures of fear and incivility. Results showed no main effects, but two interactions. Applicant consent and qualified privilege interacted in relation to fear of adverse legal consequences, and confidentially and qualified privilege interacted in relation to reports of applicant incivility (p < .10). Collectively, our largely null findings suggest that reference checks may be a limited tool for incivility prevention. Public Library of Science 2023-08-15 /pmc/articles/PMC10426956/ /pubmed/37582094 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290011 Text en © 2023 Walsh et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Walsh, Benjamin M.
Heighton, Brittany
Dingens, Chloe
What should I say? Testing ways to reduce fear and increase disclosure of incivility in reference checks
title What should I say? Testing ways to reduce fear and increase disclosure of incivility in reference checks
title_full What should I say? Testing ways to reduce fear and increase disclosure of incivility in reference checks
title_fullStr What should I say? Testing ways to reduce fear and increase disclosure of incivility in reference checks
title_full_unstemmed What should I say? Testing ways to reduce fear and increase disclosure of incivility in reference checks
title_short What should I say? Testing ways to reduce fear and increase disclosure of incivility in reference checks
title_sort what should i say? testing ways to reduce fear and increase disclosure of incivility in reference checks
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10426956/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37582094
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290011
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