Psychological determinants of job application dishonesty

Deiss Dias, Eduardo (2023) Psychological determinants of job application dishonesty. PhD thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.

Abstract

Job application forms and CVs often contain discrepant information that can result from some job candidates' intending to gain a dishonest advantage in selection processes. However, studies on the antecedents and consequences of job application dishonesty are scarce, despite its potential to influence organisational goals negatively if unqualified or fraudulent candidates are recruited. Therefore, this thesis has two aims. First, the thesis attempts to explain and predict job application dishonesty using a behaviour model containing personality traits and social-cognitive factors. Second, it examines whether job application dishonesty predicts occupational deviance in the form of counter-productive work behaviours. Two studies were conducted to achieve these objectives. Study One investigated whether the personality trait Conscientiousness, social-cognitive measures (i.e., Attitudes, Perceived Social Proof and Perceived Risk of job application dishonesty), and cultural differences between two countries (i.e., Brazil and the United Kingdom) predicted reported job application dishonesty in a sample containing 264 participants. Study Two replicated the first study's findings with an improved model, which contained the addition of the personality trait Honesty-Humility and a re-conceptualisation of the measure of risk perception with a sample of 376 participants. The second study also investigated whether job application dishonesty and personality traits are predictive of reported Counter-Productive Work Behaviours (CWBs). The results of the two studies indicated that the behavioural model adequately predicted reported job application lies and embellishments. Furthermore, the results of Study Two showed that job application lies predicted counter-productive work behaviours against other employees and organisations. Therefore, the thesis contributes to the Organisational Psychology literature and practice in presenting a model of behaviour that explains and predicts job application dishonesty and demonstrating that job application dishonesty correlates with deviant work behaviours.

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