Applicant/Test-Taker Reactions

The term applicant reactions is used to refer to an applicant’s affect, attitudes, and cognitions toward a selection process. Applicant reactions models suggest that reactions are complex and involve perceptions of multiple aspects of specific tests and the testing process in general. Stephen Gilliland was one of the first researchers to put forth a theoretical model of applicant reactions, and this model has guided much of this research over the past decade. Gilliland’s model is based on theories of organizational justice. Organizational justice is concerned with the fairness of the distribution of organizational outcomes (outcome [Page 52]fairness) and the fairness of procedures used to distribute these outcomes (procedural justice). Gilliland adapted the basic principles of organizational justice to provide a comprehensive model of how applicants ...