Shared and Unshared Information in an Employee Selection Process

Abstract

This study tested two competing theories describing how information is shared in a selection process. The information processing theory says critical unshared information, important information not originally known, is more impactful than shared information, information known prior to making a decision. The alternative theory is social validation which says shared information is more impactful than unshared information. The importance of the information as well as when the information was provided, either prior to or after making an initial preference, was used to test each theory. Critical shared information was more impactful in this study. Further results seem to suggest interactive effects between social validity and informational value of information provided by others.