Stress In Online Interview Settings A Multi-Study Investigation

New communication tools allow organizations to take advantage of global talent and minimize location-specific risks; however, they also present new challenges. One such challenge is that the communication tools individuals are using do not always properly support them in their tasks. Unfortunately, stress is one of the potential negative outcomes from poorly fit communication tools. Based on the conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1988, 1989, 1998, 2001, 2002), we contend that interviewing, a task that often requires individuals to have a high level of mutual understanding, will lead to resource strain when conducted via lean, Iower-synchronicity media, resulting in stress. Using the Delphi method, we confirmed that individuals perceive online convergence-based activities as being more stressful than online conveyance based activities, and that interviewing is considered one of the more stressful online activities. Using two laboratory experiments, we examined stress in online interview settings more closely. We found that interviewers were more stressed than interviewees (in team interview settings), that team interviewers who could communicate with each other face-to-face experienced less stress than interviewers who could only communicate using instant-messaging, and that interviewers using email were more stressed than were interviewers using instant messaging.