Committee Chair

Weathington, Bart L.

Committee Member

Biderman, Michael D.; O'Leary, Brian J.

Department

Dept. of Psychology

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

To protect organizations from liabilities and litigation, background checks are becoming increasingly common during the hiring process. Correspondingly, many individuals have committed criminal offenses which often excludes them from being selected for a job. This study examines the effects of criminal offenses, such as those often identified through background checks, on selection decisions such as interviewing, hiring, and starting salary. For this study, a résumé with an accompanying background check similar to what is used in many organizations were provided to professionals and to undergraduate psychology and business students at a midsized university located in the southeastern United States. As hypothesized, criminal offenses were found to negatively impact job applicants on selection decisions except salary.

Acknowledgments

First, I would like to thank my Thesis Chair, Dr. Bart Weathington, for his continued guidance, support, and patience throughout the thesis process. I would also like to thank my Thesis Committee members, Dr. Brian O’Leary and Dr. Michael Biderman, for their encouragement and feedback. Next I would like to thank my colleagues at Unum for sharing my study. Without their support, this thesis would not have been possible. Lastly, I would like to thank the students at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for their participation.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

5-2016

Subject

Employee screening; Discrimination in employment -- United States; Criminals -- Employment -- United States

Keyword

Background checks; Criminal offenses; Selection decisions

Discipline

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

x, 54 leaves

Language

English

Rights

https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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