Publication Date

1992

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Villanova, Peter

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

LCSH

Employees--Drug testing; Employees--Recruiting; Confidential communication

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of different types of drug-testing programs and the confidentiality of results on applicants' attitudes toward and intentions to apply to an organization. One hundred and fifty-six subjects, including an approximately equal number of both sexes, were randomly assigned to four experimental groups in a 2 x 2 factorial design (type of program: mandatory versus probable cause x confidentiality: low versus high). The dependent variables were subjects' attitudes toward and intentions to apply for employment with the organization. Measures of other variables used for supplementary analyses were also taken. A significant main effect was found for confidentiality on intention to apply, with low confidentiality causing less intention to apply than high confidentiality. The effects of confidentiality on attitude toward the company were not statistically significant. The effects of program type on both attitude toward the company and intention to apply were also not significant. However, perceived fairness was found to partially mediate the effects of confidentiality on intentions to apply, and in turn, attitude was found to completely mediate the effects of perceived fairness. These results suggest that there is a temporal sequencing of the responses to drug-testing programs, with the behavioral responses (i.e., intentions to apply) being a function of the attitudinal responses. This implies that perhaps the Employee Responses Model, developed by Crant and Bateman in 1989, is somewhat incomplete in its conceptualization of employee responses to drug testing. In conclusion, it was demonstrated that procedural justice variables are important determinants of applicants' responses to organizations that employ drug-testing programs, and attention needs to be paid to these variables if drug-testing programs are to be perceived as fair.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references (pages 43-49)

Extent

viii, 65 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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