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“With recruitment I always feel I need to listen to my gut”: the role of intuition in employee selection

Andrew Miles (Liaise Loddon Limited, Basingstoke, UK)
Eugene Sadler-Smith (Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK)

Personnel Review

ISSN: 0048-3486

Article publication date: 27 May 2014

11954

Abstract

Purpose

This qualitative study of managers’ use of intuition in the selection process aimed to understand if and how managers use intuition in employee hiring decisions and suggest ways in which the use of intuition might be improved. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with managers from a range of backgrounds, and with varying experience of recruitment and selection.

Findings

Findings revealed that reasons for the use of intuition included personal preferences, resource constraints and recognition of the limitations of more structured approaches. Intuition was used an indicator for performance, personality and person-environment fit. Intuition tended to be used with requisite caution; participants were aware of its limits, the potential for bias and the difficulties in justifying its use; several participants used their intuitions in concert with more structured, non-intuition based approaches.

Research limitations/implications

The small-scale investigative study has limited generalisability. The paper concludes with five specific recommendations on how to improve managers’ understanding and use of intuition in employee selection.

Originality/value

Despite increased interest in intuition in management there is a paucity of qualitative studies of intuition-in-use in management in general and in personnel in particular. This research helps to fill this gap.

Keywords

Citation

Miles, A. and Sadler-Smith, E. (2014), "“With recruitment I always feel I need to listen to my gut”: the role of intuition in employee selection", Personnel Review, Vol. 43 No. 4, pp. 606-627. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-04-2013-0065

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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