Managerial selection decision models: Examination of configural cue processing.

Michael A. Hitt Department of Management Texas AM Wright, 1969) but have re- ceived much criticism (Arvey Schmitt, 1976). Although the use of job-irrelevant variables in the selec- tion of employees may be illegal if it causes adverse impact, little research has systematically evaluated the relative influence of such characteristics on actual managerial selection decisions. Typically, studies have used student subjects and paper appli- cants for an entry-level position, have examined only one or a few variables, and have provided little or no job information, thereby raising serious questions about their external validity (Dougherty, Ebert, Gorman, Clover, Wexley MacCrim- mon March Simon, 1958). However, Slovic Lichtenstein (1971), Tversky Kahneman (1974), Slovic, Fischhoff, and Lichtenstein (1977) noted that decision makers have a difficult time weighting and combining informa- tion viewed as relevant to their decisions. When dealing with complex tasks involving uncertainty, complexity, or ill-struc- tured problems, such as selection decisions, people try to sim- plify the decision process by developing and relying on heuris- tics (Payne, 1976; Prahalad Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). Nisbett and Ross (1980) suggested that few decision makers search for or analyti-