IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/soceco/v112y2024ics2214804324001046.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Recruiting mid-qualified workers in product-innovating firms: Which personality traits matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Minssen, Luisa
  • Levels, Mark
  • Pfeifer, Harald
  • Wehner, Caroline

Abstract

Change in the work context is an important characteristic of product-innovating firms, and the innovation's profitability often depends on the workers’ adaptive capability to cope with change. Personality traits shape the individual adaptive capability. Nevertheless, the current economic recruitment literature does not discuss personality trait-oriented recruitment in product-innovating firms. We investigate whether recruiters in product-innovating firms prefer mid-qualified job applicants with certain Big Five personality traits. We conduct a discrete choice experiment among 799 firms in Germany and use mixed logit models to estimate the heterogeneous personality preferences of recruiters by distinguishing between firms performing i) radical and ii) incremental product innovations. We find that recruiters prefer more emotionally stable workers regardless of the firm's innovation type. However, recruiters from firms engaging in radical innovations also prefer more conscientious applicants. Our findings have practical implications for firms, applicants and policy makers designing training curricula, because we show that recruiters from product-innovating firms consider personality trait-oriented recruitment not only for high-qualified workers but also for mid-qualified workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Minssen, Luisa & Levels, Mark & Pfeifer, Harald & Wehner, Caroline, 2024. "Recruiting mid-qualified workers in product-innovating firms: Which personality traits matter?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:112:y:2024:i:c:s2214804324001046
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2024.102267
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214804324001046
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socec.2024.102267?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Caliendo, Marco & Fossen, Frank M. & Kritikos, Alexander S., 2022. "Personality characteristics and the decision to hire," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 31(3), pages 736-761.
    2. Neil Lee, 2017. "Psychology and the Geography of Innovation," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 93(2), pages 106-130, March.
    3. Layton, David F., 2000. "Random Coefficient Models for Stated Preference Surveys," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 21-36, July.
    4. Leiponen, Aija, 2005. "Skills and innovation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(5-6), pages 303-323, June.
    5. Humburg, Martin & van der Velden, Rolf, 2015. "Skills and the graduate recruitment process: Evidence from two discrete choice experiments," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 24-41.
    6. Tor Eriksson & Nicolai Kristensen, 2014. "Wages or Fringes? Some Evidence on Trade-Offs and Sorting," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(4), pages 899-928.
    7. Iqra Abdullah & Rozeyta Omar & Siti Aisyha Panatik, 2016. "A Literature Review on Personality, Creativity and Innovative Behavior," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 6(1), pages 177-182.
    8. Lu, Xun & White, Halbert, 2014. "Robustness checks and robustness tests in applied economics," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 178(P1), pages 194-206.
    9. Marcati, Alberto & Guido, Gianluigi & Peluso, Alessandro M., 2008. "The role of SME entrepreneurs' innovativeness and personality in the adoption of innovations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1579-1590, October.
    10. Wehner, Caroline & de Grip, Andries & Pfeifer, Harald, 2022. "Do recruiters select workers with different personality traits for different tasks? A discrete choice experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Petrik Runst & Jörg Thomä, 2022. "Does personality matter? Small business owners and modes of innovation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 2235-2260, April.
    12. Robert D. Dewar & Jane E. Dutton, 1986. "The Adoption of Radical and Incremental Innovations: An Empirical Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(11), pages 1422-1433, November.
    13. Emily Lancsar & Denzil G. Fiebig & Arne Risa Hole, 2017. "Discrete Choice Experiments: A Guide to Model Specification, Estimation and Software," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 35(7), pages 697-716, July.
    14. Lex Borghans & Bas ter Weel & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2008. "Interpersonal Styles and Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    15. A. Colin Cameron & Pravin K. Trivedi, 2010. "Microeconometrics Using Stata, Revised Edition," Stata Press books, StataCorp LLC, number musr, January.
    16. David Hensher & William Greene, 2003. "The Mixed Logit model: The state of practice," Transportation, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 133-176, May.
    17. John E. Ettlie & William P. Bridges & Robert D. O'Keefe, 1984. "Organization Strategy and Structural Differences for Radical Versus Incremental Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(6), pages 682-695, June.
    18. Lutz Schneider & Jutta Gunther & Bianca Brandenburg, 2010. "Innovation and skills from a sectoral perspective: a linked employer-employee analysis," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 185-202.
    19. Shi, Haolun & Yin, Guosheng, 2018. "Boosting conditional logit model," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 48-63.
    20. David Revelt & Kenneth Train, 1998. "Mixed Logit With Repeated Choices: Households' Choices Of Appliance Efficiency Level," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 647-657, November.
    21. Grillitsch, Markus & Schubert, Torben & Srholec, Martin, 2019. "Knowledge base combinations and firm growth," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 234-247.
    22. Abernathy, William J. & Clark, Kim B., 1985. "Innovation: Mapping the winds of creative destruction," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 3-22, February.
    23. William Greene & David Hensher, 2010. "Does scale heterogeneity across individuals matter? An empirical assessment of alternative logit models," Transportation, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 413-428, May.
    24. Meelen, Toon & Herrmann, Andrea M. & Faber, Jan, 2017. "Disentangling patterns of economic, technological and innovative specialization of Western economies: An assessment of the Varieties-of-Capitalism theory on comparative institutional advantages," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 667-677.
    25. Gambetti, Elisa & Giusberti, Fiorella, 2019. "Personality, decision-making styles and investments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 14-24.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wehner, Caroline & de Grip, Andries & Pfeifer, Harald, 2022. "Do recruiters select workers with different personality traits for different tasks? A discrete choice experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Non, Arjan & Rohde, Ingrid & de Grip, Andries & Dohmen, Thomas, 2022. "Mission of the company, prosocial attitudes and job preferences: A discrete choice experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Poulissen, Davey & De Grip, Andries & Fouarge, Didier & Künn-Nelen, Annemarie, 2023. "Employers’ willingness to invest in the training of temporary versus permanent workers: A discrete choice experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Hubert Gatignon & Michael L. Tushman & Wendy Smith & Philip Anderson, 2002. "A Structural Approach to Assessing Innovation: Construct Development of Innovation Locus, Type, and Characteristics," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(9), pages 1103-1122, September.
    5. Raux, Charles & Chevalier, Amandine & Bougna, Emmanuel & Hilton, Denis, 2021. "Mobility choices and climate change: Assessing the effects of social norms, emissions information and economic incentives," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Reher, Leonie & Runst, Petrik & Thomä, Jörg, 2024. "Personality and regional innovativeness: An empirical analysis of German patent data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(6).
    7. Ugo Rizzo & Nicolò Barbieri & Laura Ramaciotti & Demian Iannantuono, 2020. "The division of labour between academia and industry for the generation of radical inventions," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 393-413, April.
    8. Jagannathan, Radha & Camasso, Michael J & LaFleur, Jocelyn & Monteleone, Simona, 2024. "Modeling the employment decisions of young men and women in nine European countries: An application of random utility theory and revealed preference," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 233-247.
    9. Caliendo, Marco & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Pfeifer, Harald & Uhlendorff, Arne & Wehner, Caroline, 2024. "Managers’ risk preferences and firm training investments," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    10. Quintana-Garci­a, Cristina & Benavides-Velasco, Carlos A., 2008. "Innovative competence, exploration and exploitation: The influence of technological diversification," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 492-507, April.
    11. Poulissen, Davey & de Grip, Andries & Fouarge, Didier & Künn, Annemarie, 2021. "Employers’ willingness to invest in the training of temporary workers: a discrete choice experiment," ROA Research Memorandum 003, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    12. Ajayi, V. & Reiner, D., 2020. "Consumer Willingness to Pay for Reducing the Environmental Footprint of Green Plastics," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 20110, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    13. Scarpa, Riccardo & Ruto, Eric S. K. & Kristjanson, Patti & Radeny, Maren & Drucker, Adam G. & Rege, John E. O., 2003. "Valuing indigenous cattle breeds in Kenya: an empirical comparison of stated and revealed preference value estimates," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 409-426, July.
    14. Hans Löfsten, 2016. "Industrialization of hybrid electric vehicle technology: identifying critical resource dimensions," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 349-367, April.
    15. Bingxiu Gui & Yun Liu & Yanbing Ju & Xuanting Ye, 2018. "Disruptive Innovation Patterns Driven by Mega-Projects: A Sustainable Development Pattern Case of China’s High-Speed Rail," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    16. Maxim Kotsemir & Alexander Abroskin & Dirk Meissner, 2013. "Innovation concepts and typology – an evolutionary discussion," HSE Working papers WP BRP 05/STI/2013, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    17. Siikamaki, Juha & Layton, David F., 2007. "Discrete choice survey experiments: A comparison using flexible methods," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 122-139, January.
    18. Haile, Kaleab K. & Tirivayi, Nyasha & Tesfaye, Wondimagegn, 2019. "Farmers’ willingness to accept payments for ecosystem services on agricultural land: The case of climate-smart agroforestry in Ethiopia," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    19. Iansiti, Marco, 1995. "Technology integration: Managing technological evolution in a complex environment," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 521-542, July.
    20. Marit Kragt, 2013. "The Effects of Changing Cost Vectors on Choices and Scale Heterogeneity," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 54(2), pages 201-221, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:112:y:2024:i:c:s2214804324001046. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620175 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.