The price of getting a job for having contacts

Some problems associated with being the company's "plugged-in".

One's own merits do not always guarantee access to a job, and on too many occasions what really counts is whether or not the real determining factor is whether or not you know someone related to the organization or project in question.. When jobs are scarce and unemployment is soaring, as it has in many countries during the last global financial crisis, there is even more reason to consider the repercussions that the practice of nepotism can have on the company's performance. nepotism can have in the workplace.

Because what is clear is that someone who gets a job by knowing someone is getting a benefit: he or she goes from not having a job for which he or she may not be qualified to having it without going through too many personnel selection filters. But it is possible that the practice of "enchufismo" also has a negative effect on the beneficiary. A kind of compensation that is more difficult to detect than the positive effect of gaining a position without hardly any effort.

Stigmatization through plug-ins

A group of psychologists at Butler University have published an article in the Journal of Business and Psychology presenting evidence of the strong social stigma social stigma carried by people who have been selected for a position through nepotism. Specifically, people who get a job because they are related to someone are not only judged negatively for having taken advantage of their special contacts, but are perceived as less capable of performing their jobs. perceived as less capable of performing their job..

Research

The researchers focused on analyzing the responses of 191 business administration students. The members of this group of volunteers had to imagine themselves as employees of a bank where their boss had not yet been selected and then read information about three candidates for the job. Two of these candidates were always the same: a well-qualified profile that met the requirements for the vacancy and another that was clearly underqualified. The third application, which was the one corresponding to the person who was finally hired, varied between three levels of qualification.

In some cases, this candidate was better qualified than the other two applicants, but in others he or she was at the same level as the "strong" candidate of the previous two or slightly below. In any of these three possibilities, the third candidate met the minimum requirements for the position. However, half of the volunteers were informed that this nomination, the one chosen, was that of a close relative of the vice president..

Having gone through this phase, the volunteers had to fill out questionnaires in which they evaluated the person chosen to be their superior on factors such as their level of competence, luck, skill and political ability.

Karma stuff

The results show how the people chosen are significantly lower rated when there are indications of nepotism.. In fact, in the three degrees of qualification that could be presented, the third candidate was always rated worse than the candidate who had been elected on merit. The students assumed that this person had been chosen basically because of his or her family ties, regardless of his or her level of ability as reflected in his or her curriculum vitae. Thus, the selected persons were evaluated as if they lacked all of the necessary skills. typical characteristics that are usually associated with good managers, regardless of whether the person chosen on the basis of "plugs" was a man or a woman.regardless of whether the person chosen on the basis of "plugging in" was a man or a woman.

Thus, even people who, based on the professional and academic information available, seemed well prepared for the position were perceived as not very capable. Paradoxically, the type of stigmatization seen in the study could make it more difficult for people chosen for their connections to develop their work because of the type of work climate they inoculate in the organization. It could also make it difficult for them to move up the ladder beyond the influences of whoever selected them.

Bibliographical references:

• Padgett, M. Y., Padgett, R. J., & Morris, K. A. (2014). Perceptions of Nepotism Beneficiaries: The Hidden Price of Using a Family Connection to Obtain a Job. Journal of Business and Psychology, 30(2), pp. 283 - 298.