Exploring the Antecedents and Multilevel Consequences of Human Capital Recruitment and Selection Routines Through the Lens of Behavioral Theory

Researchers have been studying organizational recruitment and selection for over 100 years. While this scholarship has yielded considerable insight into the associated criteria, validity, methodology, biases, and application of specific recruitment and selection practices, organizational decision-making surrounding them remains a theoretical black box. Yet decisions to adopt, modify, or abandon these practices directly influence the firm’s strategically important human capital resource, as well as its ability to learn, exploit opportunities in the competitive environment, and even survive. This paper addresses this gap by developing a conceptual framework illuminating the antecedents and consequences of firm-level decision-making surrounding recruitment and selection. We build from the premise that recruitment and selection are routines enacted to create and develop the organization’s human capital resources. This perspective allows us to leverage behavioral theory’s insights regarding managerial decision-making and organizational learning to explore how these routines are formed, modified, and ultimately impact the firm’s performance and survival.