The Effects of Interviewee Mood on Interviewee Performance

The Effects of Interviewee Mood on Interviewee Performance Jennifer Xiong, Dr. Alexandra Luong Introduction The broaden-and-build theory proposes that as an individual exerts more positive emotions, they are more likely to experience greater cognitive resources. • Positive emotions, “broaden peoples’ momentary thought-action repertoires and build their enduring personal resources, ” (Frederickson, 2004). • Positive emotions lead to more gains (Danner et al. , 2001). • [Positive] people are able to change and become more creative, informed, and social through the resources provided by positive emotions (Fredrickson, 2004) Method • • Research Question • How does the interviewee mood before the interview affect their performance? • Hypotheses • H 1: Participants who are in positive moods will be rated higher in competence, likeability, and desirable personality traits. • H 2: Participants who are in negative moods will be rated lower in competence, likeability, and desirable personality traits • • Participants 3 students at the University of Minnesota Duluth Procedure Participants signed up through SONA which contained a link to the Qualtrics Participants were induced into a positive, negative, or neutral mood Those in the positive mood condition watched a video clip about kittens and puppies Those in the negative mood condition watched a video clip from the movie The Champ Those in the neutral mood condition watched a video clip from the movie Hannah and her Sisters Participants then recorded their self on Flipgrid answering interview questions Measures The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) (Watson, Clark, & Expected Results This project did not receive enough participants to analyze data, but if it did it was hypothesized that: • Those in the positive mood condition would have been rated higher than those in the negative mood and neutral condition. • Those in the negative mood condition would have been rated lowest than those in the positive mood and neutral condition. • Those in the neutral mood condition would have been rated lower than those in the positive mood condition and higher than those in the negative mood condition. Tellegen, 1988). Potential Discussion Points Future Directions • Future data analysis can utilize hiring decisions from those in management positions as raters. • Data collection can be completed in person so that there can be clarification for what is expected for the study. • Future studies can look at the effect of mood on different modes of interviews: over the phone, in person, or video chat. Limitations • The Hawthorne effect may have had a factor in how the participants acted while filming themselves. Participants were filmed so this may have caused them to act differently than if they were in an actual interview. • Participants were given five minutes to record their response to three questions. This may have not been enough time for them to thoroughly answer each question. • There may have been a lack of motivation from participants. • There was a lack of realism due to the facts that participants were asked to imagine their dream job. • Mood may not have been induced because the video clips were short. • A lack of participants completing the study in its entirety also resulted in inability to analyze data. Practical Implications • This study can help those understand that mood before an interview does affect how someone is rated by hiring managers. By being more positive, they are more likely to be rated higher than if you are negative. • Hiring managers can also understand that the mood of the interviewee prior to the interview can affect how the interviewee will perform during an interview. References available upon request