THE RELATIVE RESISTANCE OF THE SITUATIONAL, PATTERNED BEHAVIOR, AND CONVENTIONAL STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS TO ANCHORING EFFECTS

Selection interviews are decision-making tools used in organizations t o make hiring and promotion decisions. Individuals who conduct such in terviews, however, are susceptible to deviations from rationality that may bias interview ratings. This study examined the effect of the anc horing-and-adjustment heuristic on the ratings given to a job candidat e by interviewers (n = 190) using 3 different types of interview techn iques: the conventional structured interview, the patterned behavior d escription interview, and the situational interview. The ratings of in terviewers who were given a high anchor were significantly higher than the ratings of interviewers who were given a low anchor across all th ree interview techniques. The effect of the anchoring manipulation, ho wever, was significantly less when the situational interview was used.