Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2025): June

Date Log

Submitted
26 March 2025
Accepted
24 August 2025
Published
30 June 2025

Copyright (c) 2025 Nurhaeda Zaeni, Maryadi Maryadi, M. Salim S., Syafruddin Kitta, Andi Harnas Baharuddin (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Cognitive Biases, Social Influence, and Emotion in Recruitment Decisions: Evidence from Young HR Managers

https://doi.org/10.24252/minds.v12i1.56271
Nurhaeda Zaeni
Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Nobel Indonesia, Indonesia
Maryadi Maryadi
Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Nobel Indonesia, Indonesia
M. Salim S.
Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Nobel Indonesia, Indonesia
Syafruddin Kitta
Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Nobel Indonesia, Indonesia
Andi Harnas Baharuddin
Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Nobel Indonesia, Indonesia

Corresponding Author(s) : Nurhaeda Zaeni

[email protected]

Jurnal Minds: Manajemen Ide dan Inspirasi, Vol. 12 No. 1 (2025): June

Abstract

Recruitment decisions are rarely the outcome of purely rational judgment; they are shaped by social pressures, emotional reactions, and cognitive distortions. By examining these dynamics, this study adds precision to our understanding of how decision-making unfolds within human resource management. Drawing on survey data from 401 young HR managers in Indonesia and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the study investigates the influence of cognitive bias and social influence on recruitment decisions, with emotion as a mediator. The findings reveal that cognitive bias does not directly determine recruitment outcomes but shapes emotion, which in turn has a modest effect. Social influence emerges as the dominant driver, exerting both direct and emotion-mediated effects on decisions. These results demonstrate that recruitment is a socially embedded and emotionally mediated process. For managers, the implication is clear: recruitment systems must regulate social pressures and emotional spillovers to ensure fairness and effectiveness.

Keywords

Cognitive Bias Social Influence Emotion Recruitment Decisions Human Resource Management
Zaeni, N., Maryadi, M., S., M. S., Kitta, S., & Baharuddin, A. H. (2025). Cognitive Biases, Social Influence, and Emotion in Recruitment Decisions: Evidence from Young HR Managers. Jurnal Minds: Manajemen Ide Dan Inspirasi, 12(1), 407–418. https://doi.org/10.24252/minds.v12i1.56271
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX
References
  1. Allen, T. D., Cho, E., & Meier, L. L. (2021). Work–family boundary dynamics. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 8(1), 263–288. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-091310
  2. Ashkanasy, N. M., & Humphrey, R. H. (2011). Current emotion research in organizational behavior. Emotion Review, 3(2), 214–224. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073910391684
  3. Bailey, C., & Madden, A. (2017). Time reclaimed: Temporality and the experience of meaningful work. Work, Employment and Society, 31(1), 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017015604100
  4. Bamberger, P. (2009). Employee help-seeking: Antecedents, consequences and new insights for future research. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, 28, 49–98. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0742-7301(2009)0000028005
  5. Bapuji, H., Patel, C., Ertug, G., & Allen, D. G. (2020). Corona crisis and inequality: Why management research needs a societal turn. Journal of Management, 46(7), 1205–1222. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206320925881
  6. Barsade, S. G., & Gibson, D. E. (2020). Group emotion: A view from top and bottom. Research in Organizational Behavior, 40, 100138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2020.100138
  7. Barsade, S. G., & Knight, A. P. (2015). Group affect. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2(1), 21–46. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032414-111316
  8. Blumenthal-Barby, J. S., & Krieger, H. (2015). Cognitive biases and heuristics in medical decision making: A critical review using a systematic search strategy. Medical Decision Making, 35(4), 539–557. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X14547740
  9. Bohnet, I. (2016). What works: Gender equality by design. Belknap Press.
  10. Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W., & Farndale, E. (2016). Handbook of research on comparative human resource management. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781784711132
  11. Budhwar, P. S., Pereira, V., Mellahi, K., & Singh, S. K. (2019). The state of HRM in the Middle East: Challenges and future research agenda. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 36(4), 905–933. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-018-9587-4
  12. Chang, S., Liu, Y., & Siemsen, E. (2022). Debiasing managers’ judgments: Field evidence. Management Science, 68(5), 3300–3320. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.4045
  13. Chen, S. J., Choi, C. J., & Chi, S. C. (2015). Making meritocracy work: The case of recruitment in Asia. Asia Pacific Business Review, 21(2), 205–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602381.2014.975236
  14. Cialdini, R. B., & Goldstein, N. J. (2020). Social influence: Compliance and conformity. Annual Review of Psychology, 71, 179–201. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010419-050735
  15. Collins, C. J., & Han, J. (2022). Exploring applicant attraction: The roles of employer branding and recruitment advertising. Academy of Management Annals, 16(1), 33–69. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2019.0168
  16. Cooke, F. L. (2018). Concepts, contexts, and mindsets: Putting human resource management research in perspectives. Human Resource Management Journal, 28(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12163
  17. Derous, E., & Ryan, A. M. (2019). When your resume is (not) turning you down: Modelling ethnic bias in resume screening. Human Resource Management Journal, 29(2), 113–130. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12217
  18. Edwards, T., Sanchez-Mangas, R., Jalette, P., Lavelle, J., & Minbaeva, D. (2016). Global standardization or national differentiation of HRM practices in multinational companies? A comparison of multinationals in five countries. Journal of International Business Studies, 47(8), 997–1021. https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2016.23
  19. Ellemers, N. (2018). Gender stereotypes. Annual Review of Psychology, 69, 275–298. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-122216-011719
  20. Farndale, E., Brewster, C., Ligthart, P., & Poutsma, E. (2017). The effects of market economy type and foreign MNE subsidiaries on the HRM practices of host country firms: A longitudinal study. Journal of International Business Studies, 48(9), 1065–1087. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-017-0094-8
  21. Fiedler, K., & Glöckner, A. (2015). The dynamics of decision making in organizations. Organizational Psychology Review, 5(3), 252–272. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041386614564215
  22. Gooderham, P. N., Mayrhofer, W., & Brewster, C. (2019). Context and HRM: Theory, evidence, and practice. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(7), 1227–1248. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2019.1579240
  23. Grant, A. M., & Parker, S. K. (2009). Redesigning work design theories: The rise of relational and proactive perspectives. Academy of Management Annals, 3(1), 317–375. https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520903047327
  24. Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2020). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European Business Review, 31(1), 2–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203
  25. Hodgkinson, G. P., & Sadler-Smith, E. (2018). The dynamics of intuition and analysis in managerial and organizational decision making. Academy of Management Perspectives, 32(4), 473–492. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2016.0140
  26. Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2019). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
  27. Hülsheger, U. R., Feinholdt, A., & Nübold, A. (2018). A low-dose mindfulness intervention and recovery from work. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 91(2), 330–357. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12196
  28. Jackson, T. (2014). Employment in Chinese small firms and the global economic crisis: The human resource management paradox. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(18), 2579–2596. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2012.743471
  29. Johns, G. (2017). Reflections on the 2016 decade award: Incorporating context in organizational research. Academy of Management Review, 42(4), 577–595. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2017.0044
  30. Kahneman, D., Sibony, O., & Sunstein, C. R. (2021). Noise: A flaw in human judgment. Little, Brown Spark.
  31. Kang, S., & Kaplan, S. (2019). Working toward gender diversity in organizational research: An integrative review and research agenda. Academy of Management Annals, 13(1), 297–329. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2017.0029
  32. Lee, S. M., & Kramer, T. (2016). Cultural influences on group decision-making: A cross-cultural comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(9), 1200–1217. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022116667849
  33. Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. S. (2015). Emotion and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 799–823. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115043
  34. Leutner, F., & Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2018). Big data in recruitment and selection: New approaches and challenges. Applied Psychology, 67(3), 557–599. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12141
  35. Li, A., & Cropanzano, R. (2021). Fairness at the organizational level: A review and future research agenda. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 42(2), 274–293. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2492
  36. Mercer. (2022). Talent trends 2022: Indonesia report. Mercer. https://www.mercer.com/our-thinking/career/global-talent-trends.html
  37. Nicolini, D. (2021). Practice theory, work, and organization: An introduction. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198833360.001.0001
  38. Powell, T. C., Lovallo, D., & Fox, C. R. (2019). Behavioral strategy. Strategic Management Journal, 32(13), 1369–1386. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2569
  39. Rupp, D. E., Shao, R., Skarlicki, D. P., & Paddock, E. L. (2016). The role of justice climate in work groups: Antecedents and consequences. Academy of Management Journal, 59(5), 1899–1919. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.0284
  40. Sadler-Smith, E. (2016). The role of intuition in entrepreneurship and business venturing decisions. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 25(2), 212–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2015.1029046
  41. Salancik, G. R., & Pfeffer, J. (1978). A social information processing approach to job attitudes and task design. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23(2), 224–253. https://doi.org/10.2307/2392563
  42. Sarstedt, M., Hair, J. F., Nitzl, C., Ringle, C. M., & Howard, M. C. (2021). Beyond a tandem analysis of SEM and PROCESS: Use of PLS-SEM for mediation analyses. International Journal of Market Research, 63(2), 149–170. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470785320965305
  43. Seo, M. G., Bartunek, J. M., & Barrett, L. F. (2017). The role of affective experience in work motivation. Academy of Management Review, 42(2), 191–214. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2014.0461
  44. Shantz, A., Arevshatian, L., Alfes, K., & Bailey, C. (2020). The effect of HRM attributions on emotional exhaustion and the mediating roles of job involvement and work overload. Human Resource Management Journal, 30(3), 393–409. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12282
  45. Van Kleef, G. A. (2016). The interpersonal dynamics of emotion: Toward an integrative theory of emotions as social information. Psychological Inquiry, 27(2), 120–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2016.1157847
  46. Vuori, T. O., & Vuori, N. (2021). How organizations can sense the future: Managers’ attention and interpretation of weak signals. Academy of Management Journal, 64(5), 1529–1555. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2018.0392
  47. Walter, F., & Bruch, H. (2016). The role of emotional contagion in team performance. Academy of Management Review, 41(3), 384–400. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2014.0284
  48. Weiss, H. M., & Knight, A. P. (2019). The dynamics of affective influences on team performance. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-041015-062305
  49. World Bank. (2023). Indonesia economic prospects: Investing in people. World Bank. https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports
  50. Yang, J., Liu, X., & Wang, X. (2021). Group emotion and organizational decision-making: A multilevel perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 42(2), 273–290. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2491
Read More

Author Biographies

Nurhaeda Zaeni, Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Nobel Indonesia

Management Department

Maryadi Maryadi, Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Nobel Indonesia

Management Department

M. Salim S., Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Nobel Indonesia

Management Department

Syafruddin Kitta, Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Nobel Indonesia

Management Department

Andi Harnas Baharuddin, Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Nobel Indonesia

Management Department

Download
PDF
Statistic
Read Counter : 0 Download : 0