Developing a nomological network for interview structure: Antecedents and consequences of the structured selection interview

A review by Campion, Palmer, and Campion (1997) identified 15 elements of interview structure and made predictions regarding how applicants and interviewers might react to these elements. In this 2-sample field survey of 812 interviewees and 592 interviewers from over 502 organizations, interview structure was best described by 4 dimensions: (a) Questioning Consistency, (b) Evaluation Standardization, (c) Question Sophistication, and (d) Rapport Building. Interviewers with formal training and those with a selection rather than recruiting focus employed higher levels of interview structure. In addition, reactions to increased structure were mixed. Both higher structure (Question Sophistication) and lower structure (Rapport Building) were positively related to interviewer reactions. Less than 34% of interviewers had any formal interview training. However, interviewers were confident that they could identify the best candidates regardless of the amount of interview structure employed. Applicants reacted negatively to the increased perceived difficulty of structured interviews, but perceptions of procedural justice were not affected by interview structure.