The Call for Talent in Recruitment Attracts Narcissistic Job Seekers (WITHDRAWN)

Baik, S, Kesebir, S and Cable, D (2023) The Call for Talent in Recruitment Attracts Narcissistic Job Seekers (WITHDRAWN). Academy of Management Proceedings, 2023 (1). ISSN 2151-6561

Abstract

Being “talented” is one of the most frequently sought-after personal qualities in job applicants, appearing in more than 470,000 of 14,180,208 global job postings. We examine this focus on talent in recruitment, and theorize that it will disproportionately attract narcissistic job applicants. Extending fit theory, we hypothesize that people’s self-perceptions may be distorted in ways that break down the matching process in the Attraction-Selection-Attrition cycle. Narcissistic applicants, by definition, see themselves as more talented than others, and therefore perceive greater fit between themselves and organizations that emphasize talent. This research contributes to our understanding of person-organization fit theory by introducing limits to self-knowledge as a factor in recruitment research.